Updated: Apr 17, 2021
Over the past years, we have seen several council members go to prison because of corruption. Why is it happening and what can we do about it?
One way is to take politics out of the money. When the award of grants or subsidies (free stuff) is subject to the whim of a council member, there is a temptation to offer the council member something to secure the free stuff. What is the alternative? There is a process for awarding design-build projects where, because of leeway for innovation by the bidders, an apples-to-apples comparison of the bids cannot be made. A committee is established to evaluate the bids on the basis of defined criteria (cost being a major consideration) and select the best value for the city. A similar process should be followed anytime the city awards a grant or a subsidy. I will work to endure that grants and subsidies are awarded on the basis of best value for the citizens and are guided by, but not subject to, the wishes of a council member.
The other way is to take the money out of politics. The typical council district has around 50,000 voters. It costs a great deal of money to reach that many voters. However, it doesn’t cost much for a voter to reach a candidate. You have done that by visiting this website. Encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. You can reach out to a candidate for a lot less than it costs a candidate to reach out to you; and, you will get a lot more useful information from a website than a push card or a TV ad. If voters will do that, there will be no need for a candidate to raise a huge amount of money to run for public office.
That said, it costs something just to reach out to voters and make them aware that a candidate has a website. If you believe that I am the best candidate to represent your views, please make a small donation to my campaign.