Any big business (such as Newark) needs a real CEO

An Advocate editorial 5/25/08 advised the mayor that he should act as a professional administrator and set a standard of excellence for city managers at all levels, an excellent piece of advice.

I like it that the Mayor Diebold was referred to as "CEO" - chief executive officer - because it's important for everyone to think of his job that way.

Eventually, I hope, Newark citizens will realize that oversight of a "multi-million-dollar operation with hundreds of employees involved in vital and important services," as the Advocate put it, is a job too important and too technical and too specialized not to be handled by a professional city manager, one who is free of party politics.

To be done correctly, year after year, political cycle after political cycle, Newark needs more than citizens popular with voters. It does, in fact, need a real CEO.