In 1920, Sacramento adopted a new charter government that dictated the creation of nine positions on a new Sacramento City Council along with a paid city manager position, which would be held by Illinois journalist Clyde Seavey after the initial rechartering of the government in 1911 that formed five elected nonpartisan commissioner positions failed to effectively serve the city. These actions restricted the power of the mayor and broke the working class' grip over city politics. Seavey pushed strongly for reform, rendering businesses related to clairvoyance nonviable and closing or refusing to license local saloons and poolrooms; Seavey consolidated civic departments to lower the city's budget and reinstated the chain gang punishment to deter crime.