Accountability and transparency in Government

By Jonathan Mann

My experience in running for City Council has made me extremely cognizant that we need to elect candidates who have no obligations to ANY special interests, and who are completely open and honest with the voters.

I support Clean Money, Ranked Voting, Term Limits and any campaign reforms that take away the power of special interests and empowers the electorate.

I would like a thorough investigation into how ALL city revenues are being distributed and if any of the recipients are contributing, in any way, to candidates for public office. I would audit the entire budget on the City website (with a search function) to expose conflict of interest and mismanagement.

I have serious questions regarding the disposition of the millions of tax dollars disbursed by the housing division, as well as many of the funds disbursed to social service agencies and city departments.

Every election for City Council the incumbents usually get re-elected, especially candidates who receive the endorsement of the SMPD, SMFD and/or SMRR. No candidate who dares to represent ONLY the residents has ever been elected. To change that status quo I am advocating a Virtual Town Hall on the city website, with moderated forums on public issues so residents can have a voice in government. Since the advent of MoveOn.org, weblogs, and social networks a world wide electronic plebiscite is beginning to emerge.

I hold the present and past city councils accountable for the state of affairs in this city (which has escalated under the leadership of the present council). The deteriorating situation in Santa Monica happened on their watch and is their fault. Special interests, appointed officials, city employees, public agencies, all share the blame. The council could have prevented much of the current chaos in our city, instead of approving overdevelopment, raising taxes, and other policies to increase revenues, at the expense of our quality of life. We need to down size and streamline our bloated bureaucracy, implement a wage and hiring freeze and put a moratorium on development unless approved by the residents!