To me the central political issue of our time is the ignoring by those in power of the real needs of the People, whether at the national level with the moves to ruin social security, or the local level where our taxes and our water rights are given away to developers.  Our needs are routinely ignored and it is far past the time for     us to assert our collective powers as Citizens against these excesses of     concentrated wealth and power.  We have to appreciate that the fundamental power of governance is ours (we can rewrite the constitutions and charters which enable governments to act), and more immediately, we also can determine the content of the political conversation, should we choose to act in the right ways.

Second to this is the divisions that have been forced upon us by concentrated wealth and power through wedge issues - issues designed to make us afraid of each other.  We must also overcome these divisions, or what is to come toward us out of the future will overwhelm us - a house divided against itself cannot stand.  Thirdly, it is necessary to work at drawing more and more into the political process, those currently not involved, not registered, or if registered, not voting.

Those seeking public office then must not only serve these needs for Citizen Governance, for the taking hold of power, the taking hold of the conversation and for rediscovering our natural unity (out of many, one), but must pledge to work in new ways once in office.

City officials should reach out to the public on a ongoing basis, meeting regularly with the public outside the Council Chambers, and in venues and at times easily accessible by the public.  Citizen advocacy groups on all public issues should be encouraged and have easy access to officials.  It should be the obligation of officials to make easy the speaking of the public, and even more important, to act upon that wisdom.  The City belongs to the public, not to the officials.

Council meetings should no longer be held in the afternoon or in chambers too small for many people to gather.  The Council should no longer use regularly the emergency clause of the City Charter to avoid properly making the public aware of its decisions.  If these and other matters had been the normal practice of City Government, the Granite Dells Annexation agreement would never have been signed, and it is not enough to void that agreement, we must correct the deficiencies that made it possible for the City to hide from sight its subservience to developers and other self interested parties.

The City is a community of the People, not the plaything of excess concentrations of wealth and power.  Our needs are primary and public officials exist to serve those needs.  For this reason, it is the purpose of this campaign to already work toward and exemplify public service rooted in genuine listening to the People.  I can be contacted at campaign@ipwebdev.com, and my mayoral website address is: http://ipwebdev.com/hermit/mayor2.html