“Trust in local government is twice as high as trust in our national government,” wrote Marc Ott, executive director, ICMA; Clarence Anthony, executive director, National League of Cities, and Doug Linkhart, executive director, National Civic League, in a New York Times letter to the editor published on September 24, 2020. They pointed out that targeting cities based on partisan politics was a dangerous precedent.  

“Whether or not cities are governed by leaders elected through nonpartisan or partisan elections, they are expected to manage local affairs in a fair and evenhanded manner. They hire professional local government managers to help ensure that the day-to-day operations are handled in an ethical, efficient, and transparent way,” they wrote.