Mayor of San Francisco
Burr was soon noticed by the Vigilante movement, who recommended him as the People's Party candidate for mayor. He was elected mayor on November 4, 1856 and took office on November 15 of that year. Burr entered office under a new city charter that significantly weakened his powers; however, this did not stop him from cutting city spending (including spending from the formerly separate county government). Nor did this loss of authority stop Burr from reforming the office of city treasurer. (He changed the salary from a percentage of the city receipts to a fixed wage to stop graft.)
He also proposed a plan to make the city Board of Supervisors overlords of the city debt, and to make the city attorney the overseer of the city's legal matters, which were previously handled by outside attorneys.
Read more about this topic: Ephraim Willard Burr, Politics
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