Bonelli, who was seen as an opponent of the George E. Cryer administration, declared in his inaugural address after being elected president that the council should "use its efforts to prevent the police department from being swayed from its duty by 'outside control.'" Nevertheless, when Bonelli himself was running for mayor in 1929, he was criticized for sending an appeal for votes and an attack on Chief James E. Davis and the Police Commission in letters bearing his office title to two thousand members of the department.