LeRoy F. Harlow, Without Fear or Favor Brigham Young University Press, Provo, Utah. 343 pp. $11. 95
"WE have met the enemy and he is us!" These words of Pogo's, referring to the environment, could just as well apply to the quest for reform and efficiency in local government. The local level, as portrayed by Leroy Harlow, has one great virtue, which is also its greatest limit. It is closest to the people. People, at close range, have warts, blemishes and interests to go with their virtues. Local government deals with them as they are. Dealing with imperfect situations and with a variety of citizens with vastly differing needs is the job of the city manager, whether in a rural community, a suburb or a larger community. This is the strength of Harlow's book, Without Fear or Favor. It tells the story, without embellishment, pride or apology, of how one man lived through a series of five extraordinarily difficult city managerships and of the accomplishments and failures he experienced.
The book is more than a bloodless account of centralized management. It is intensely personal, filled with vignettes and details, which make up the lives of the city managers. It is fascinating reading for several audiences: those who want to know of the manager's life and his occupation, those who want to understand management in general, and others interested in local government in general.
In a random but effective way, Harlow sets down the way that small and medium size cities operate. He shows how interests work through elected officials. He points out how reform is short-lived and how it requires constant nourishment. He also manages to give a picture of how local government services are rendered in a way much more real to the reader than dry tomes on "police administration" or "financial management."
The work is easily applicable to Illinois. Centralized management is as necessary here as anywhere, and the play of local interests is very similar to Fargo or Sweet Home. In many cases the lives of Illinois city managers are not unlike Harlow's experiences, particularly in cities such as Centralia, Salem, Oak Lawn or Joliet. The accounts of the different cities are more useful to the student of city management or local government than are the final chapters, which recommend patterns of local government arrangements, taxation, government management and the power of bureaucracy in a democracy. These smack heavily of management consultant boilerplate, emerging from the 20 years Harlow spent in that business. The delight of the earlier chapters comes from the recounting of a story of a man who worked very hard at a job he loved. Harlow tells a good story; but he does not do as well at preaching. But for someone who tells such a good story, perhaps he's entitled to some time in the pulpit.
22 / August 1977 / Illinois Issues