Campaign Promises

Unfortunately, we have all become accustomed to our politicians promising to do one thing to get elected and once elected doing another. I am sure that is one reason why polls consistently put politicians near the bottom of the ‘trust’ scale.

Now before everyone jumps up and down I need to acknowledge a couple of things. One is that things do change, economies falter, circumstances were not as they were when a promise was made, so a change is needed. Or perhaps the politician was not aware of all the facts during an election but once informed they need to modify their stance. This is where honesty is needed to explain the reason behind a change.

All of that said, a principled promise is a completely different thing. One stands for election declaring an increase in transparency but then conducts the real business behind closed doors. Or they vow to fix the budget yet undermine half of the budget equation. These are the issues that people have a hard time with but time and time again it seems our elected officials seem to get away with.

In Marina we have a case in point. Mayor Delgado promised the people of Marina more transparency across the board but specifically as it has to do with Measures M and N during our last election. He specifically endorsed the establishment of a citizen’s oversight committee to help the City track the funds generated by the tax measures and make sure they help to maintain the level of core services promised with the Measures. He has now voted against the idea and stated that such a committee is not needed. So his vote along with that of Councilmen O’Connell and Brown, have killed the oversight committee that was promised to the voters of Marina.

When Marina voters passed the Measures they wanted accountability and a level of oversight that made sure the funds would go where they were promised. They will not get what they were promised. The Council’s majorities vote now makes any future Measure, bond issuance or other vote of our citizens nearly impossible to pass. Perhaps we someday want a new fire station, or civic center or even another branch for our Library and certain promises are made.  Will the citizens believe them to be true ever again?

If you continue to close the revenue options for the City the only other option is deeper and deeper cuts to our services until there is no need to be an incorporated entity any more.  Perhaps that is the goal.

More later