I wholeheartedly support the 22 items on the Committee of Seventy Ethics Agenda because these proposals work against nepotism, payoffs, and the like and because they advance the Green Party principles of active democracy, governmental transparency, fairness and social justice.
To the agenda I would like to add
1. Introduce legislation for 3 term limit for City Council
2. Introduce legislation to change the minimum age to serve on Council or as Mayor from 25 to 21
3. Introduce legislation for runoff elections whenever the highest vote-getter in any election does not receive a majority of the votes.
I am asking the Committee of Seventy to add these 3 to the 22 in place for a nice round 25 items! The Committee of Seventy Ethics Agenda follows:
The Committee of Seventy’s
ETHICS AGENDA
PHILADELPHIA
CITY COUNCIL
The Committee of Seventy is asking you and the other declared
candidates for Philadelphia City Council to commit to the attached Ethics
Agenda – which is directed towards changing the political culture in
Philadelphia
. Each of the five declared Democratic mayoral candidates have already endorsed proposals in a similar Ethics Agenda. A copy has just been sent to the new Republican candidate.
The overwhelming voter support for two recent ethics reform
ballot questions has sent an unmistakable message that Philadelphians want to
change the political culture. More work remains to be done.
As you embark upon your campaign, we ask that you state your
position on 22 specific reform measures. We also hope that you will propose
additional ideas for making government more accountable and City Council more
effective. Your responses will be published on the websites of The Next Mayor
project (www.thenextmayor.com)
and the Committee of Seventy (www.seventy.org).
Please state your
agreement, or explain your disagreement, with the following reforms:
With the municipal elections well underway, bills have
been introduced in Philadelphia City Philadelphia
1. I will
oppose any bill that seeks to remove or weaken the existing campaign
contribution limits for the 2007 mayoral candidates -- or for the 2007
City Council
candidates
in the event such a bill is introduced.
2. I
will support a comprehensive review
of the campaign finance system after the
November
election by calling upon the next mayor to convene an independent panel to
examine
all current laws on campaign contributions and spending and to consider
national
best practices in regulating campaign finance, including the possibility of
public financing, and to make reform
recommendations to the mayor, City Council and
the
Board of Ethics.
Public officials sometimes hire or appoint members of
their immediate family to work directly for them or recommend members of their
immediate family for other paid or appointed positions in city government.
3. I
will support the enactment of legislation that forbids nepotism
in City Council and in
other
City departments, agencies and commissions.
4. I will not
personally hire or appoint a member of my immediate family (spouse,
domestic partner,
parent, sibling or child), or recommend the hiring or appointment of
a
member of my immediate family by any other person, department, board,
commission,
agency or authority of City government.
The city’s ten council
districts are sometimes described as individual fiefdoms, in part because of
district council members’ de facto veto power over development and other projects
in their home districts.
5. I will support the adoption of a set
of ground rules to balance the absolute control of
Council
members over development and other projects in their home districts with the
best interests
of the City as a whole.
City Council members are permitted to hold second jobs,
without regard to whether their private employers either do business with the
city or hope to obtain city business.
6. I will support the enactment of legislation that prohibits members of
City Council and
other elected officials from holding positions with, or owning any
interest in, a company
or
firm that does, or might seek to do, business with the city. The prohibition
should not
apply
to teaching at educational institutions.
There is no ethics law
that deals with a public official negotiating for future employment with a
private company that does business with the City, according to the Board of
Ethics.
7. I will support legislation that places reasonable
and well-articulated regulations on
public officials who seek future outside employment
while still on the City’s
payroll.
The timing of a
special election to fill a vacancy on City Council is left to the discretion of
the President of City Council. This leaves open the possibility of one or more vacancies remaining unfilled for
long periods of time, thereby undermining the effectiveness of the legislative
process and leaving constituents unrepresented.
8. I will support amending the Philadelphia Home
Rule Charter to provide clear and
and non-discretionary rules for scheduling
a special election to fill a vacancy on City
Council.
Many people complain that Council meetings
are inhospitable to citizens, characterized by members talking on cell phones,
walking in and out of the room and, on occasion, marked by displays of unruly
behavior and open hostility among members.
9. I will nurture a culture that treats all
individuals coming before Council with
dignity and
respect and that demands civility among all members of Council and
their staffs.
The City Charter requirement
that all City Council meetings be open and accessible to the public at all
times has often been sidestepped, with important changes effectively happening
behind closed doors or meetings scheduled at times when most members of the
public are unable to attend.
10. I will promote greater public access to, and
participation in, meetings and hearings
convened by
City Council and its committees -- including holding more sessions
during
evening hours and in locations throughout the City and also providing timely
and complete
transcripts on City Council’s web site.
11. I will support
reforms that make the business of City Council, including rules, more
understandable to the average citizen.
Frequently, political friends and financial supporters
are appointed to, or hired or confirmed for, positions in offices, departments,
boards, commissions, agencies and authorities in city government -- creating
doubts about their qualifications and their independence.
12. I
will frequently publish the
names of all donors to my campaign account, political
committees
and non-governmental organizations I control, above and beyond what
is required
by state law.
13. I will only hire,
promote, appoint and confirm individuals who meet the highest
standards
for ethics, integrity and character, as well as published, objective
qualifications
to perform the jobs to which they are assigned, without regard to past
or future political
support.
14. I will assume personal
responsibility for interviewing and hiring all individuals who
work
directly or indirectly for me, and will further require that all such
individuals
report either
to me or to others on my staff as designated by me.
The new independent Board of Ethics received a strong
mandate from the citizens of Philadelphia
15. I
will require all employees who
work for me, and all appointees for whom I am
responsible,
paid and unpaid, to abide by all Board of Ethics advisory opinions, rules
and enforcement decisions and will cooperate
fully with the Board in carrying out its
investigative
responsibilities and implementing its rules and decisions.
16. I will work
with my colleagues on City Council to ensure ample funding to support
the
operations of the Board of Ethics including, but not limited to, the
appointment
of an
independent General Counsel who is unaffiliated with the mayor or City
Council.
An executive order places strict limitations on the
solicitation or acceptance of gifts, gratuities and favors by officials in the
executive and administrative branches of government.
17. I
will seek the enactment of
permanent legislation that bans the acceptance of gifts,
gratuities
and favors above a nominal amount by members of City Council and their
staffs.
Some cities have dropped some of the perks that go along
with public office, such as giving public officials complimentary tickets to
events in City-owned or City-managed facilities, particularly when budget cuts
threaten other city services.
18. I
will seek reasonable limitations
on the number of complimentary tickets given to
public officials for use at any City-owned or
City-managed facility, which includes a
prohibition
on using those tickets for any past, current or future political
fundraising
purposes.
The City Charter forbids City Council members from engaging
in political activity that takes place during scheduled hours of City
employment. The lines between doing Council work and campaign work are often
blurred.
19. I
will abide by all laws regulating political activities
– both permissible and
prohibited – that might benefit me or any other candidate for political office,
and
will demand the same of members of my personal staff and any other staff
who report
to me.
Lobbyists or lawyers acting as lobbyists are often
perceived as having improper or undue influence on decisions made by the Office
of the Mayor, City Council and other City departments, agencies and
commissions.
20. I
will seek the enactment of an ordinance requiring all lobbyists, and individuals acting
as lobbyists,
engaged in business with the City, City-related departments, agencies and
commissions
and quasi-City agencies and authorities, to register as lobbyists, identify
their
clients and make public their expenses.
A recent study found that Philadelphia
21. I
will call upon the next mayor to convene a non-partisan and independent
citizen’s
commission to allow for an open and public process that will result in a
fair
redistricting plan, thereby reducing the conflicts of interest inherent
when political
district lines are drawn exclusively by the mayor and City Council. The
commission
will report to the mayor and to City Council.
Pennsylvania
has a poor reputation when it comes to disclosure of public documents.
22. I
will seek the adoption of, and support compliance with, new rules making all
City
and City Council documents public, consistent with the best practices in
the nation,
unless there is a compelling reason to restrict a
Comments