The Executive Branch Does Not Dictate to the Common Council or the People: James Mueller's Failure of Civics 101 and needing a less than 00.5% increase to the City Budget

Rexroth E.F. Washington
6 days ago
3 min read

The Executive Branch Does Not Dictate to the Common Council or the People: James Mueller's Failure of Civics 101 and needing a less than 00.5% increase to the City Budget by Rexroth E.F. Washington - July 26th, 2025

According to a story run by WVPE on July 25, 2025, Mayor James Mueller said, in reference to decreasing access to body camera footage for media and the public, "After much debate it's time to turn our focus on other pressing matters in the city." This is nearly an identical phrase utilized by President Trump earlier this month about the Epstein files.

The idea that those running Executive Branches get to dictate agendas to the people they serve or to their equals in government, in Mueller's case, the Common Council of the City of South Bend, is erroneous, dangerous, and an egregious misunderstanding by executives. Hopefully, the South Bend Common Council takes umbrage at the notion that James Mueller calls the shots for them and dictates which items to approve, as the Common Council is meant to be a check on the mayor's power, not a lapdog doing the mayor's bidding.

The Common Council should take offense, as should the people of our community, that the Mayor is telling them when discussions end on a topic.

Furthermore, Mueller's assertion that the resolution, which would radically increase the fees for police body camera footage, is legal misses the point. As a graduate of at least two Catholic institutions in our community, Mueller knows that what is legal and what is right are not always the same thing. His assertion that Indiana law allows for the fee increases misses the point, as the 2017 Washington University Law Review article by Sacharoff and Lustbader argues, that the body cameras were initially promised to citizens as a way to promote greater accountability from police officers and police forces to the citizens they are sworn to 'serve and protect.' However, in less than a decade of officer-worn body camera use, the police and governments have taken over ownership of this public commodity, body camera footage, and have leveraged it to protect the police rather than the entire community (which would include the police).

South Bend has been at the center of a national lack of transparency scandal around police tapes and other materials for more than a decade. Is now really the time to give the police and city attorneys MORE power to withhold information from citizens?

In short, everyone loses when there is a lack of transparency. Citizens without the requisite funds to get police tapes are further victims of pay-to-play politics and courts, and greater suspicion arises around an increasingly militarized police force. Taxpayers are told that the Mayor's office and Police Chief did not appropriately ask for more funding for these things through the regular budgetary process.

Mueller has increased the city's budget annually and did not consider building in a less than 0.5% increase to cover additional expenses incurred by requests for body camera footage for citizens. Did the Police Chief also not think of this at budget time?

Our Mayor, who has a Ph.D. in a science related field, certainly can calculate the percentages needed for the video footage requests, which, according to WVPE, are on pace to equal about 200 requests this year. Mueller and his Police Chief should work together to include this in their proposed budget for the next fiscal year, rather than trying to pass the expense on to those who have been injured in accidents, the media (both old and start-ups), and those who fall victim to police overreach.

The Mayor and Police Chief's failure to plan their budgets accordingly and to tax those in most need of service and protection is an absolute failure of their administration. Allowing them to have their way is a failure of the separation of powers. The mayor wanting to dictate when citizens move on from a topic is a failure of his sworn duty and basic civics.

We all should demand more from our elected officials. Please reach out to yours, regardless of how you feel about this issue, and let them know. You can find your official's information below: SB Mayor James Mueller

mayormueller@southbendin.gov City Clerk Bianca Tirado

sbcityclerk@southbendin.gov

ClerksOffice@southbendin.gov

1st District - Canneth Lee

clee@southbendin.gov

2nd District - Ophelia Gooden Rodgers

ogooden-rodgers@southbendin.gov

3rd District - Sharon McBride

smcbride @southbendin.gov

4th District - Troy Warner

twarner@southbendin.gov

5th District - Sherry Bolden Simpson