From MSNBC:
Councilwoman Barbara Kogerman sits in a cobalt suit, a cluster of pearls around her neck and a meticulously highlighted report in her hands. She wants some answers. The issue on this particular night is the city's online compensation report, but it could just as easily be the city manager's salary or his benefits. The result is the same. With no support from the rest of the council, Kogerman agrees to put down her report for now, and the meeting moves on.... But government experts say the lesson of Barbara Kogerman is not necessarily that reformers can't make the changes they want - just that it might take them awhile. If they don't have the votes, they can at least keep their issue alive, keep it in front of voters and - like Kogerman - hope for another election to turn the tables. "It's rare that reform happens right away," said Mark Petracca, a political science professor at UC Irvine. "Individual council members have very little power or authority."

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