Transparency Update

According to today's Herald, the Mayor still isn't coming clean with the Teacher's Union about what the budget numbers are, let alone the rest of us.

So, as Teacher's Union president Stuttman says, the Mayor resorts to "bullying" tactics. What is the best way to handle a bully? Stand up to him, and I applaud the teacher's standing up to him and demanding he be honest and transparent. What they will find, is that as I have discovered there is actually a lot of money available, it is just that the Mayor would prefer to help his rich developer friends rather than support the schools.

There is enough money in this budget to not cut a single teaching job, and it is terrible that the Mayor will not prioritize education.

Further down the totem poll:

Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon have asked the City Clerk to handle my Public Records requests of them, and they want to charge me $80 to see their hiring records. Not very transparent, when you want to charge citizens for public information. Sort of like an exclusionary poll tax.

The reason they don't want to turn over the information is that it is likely to show how they (and the other councilors) suspend City Council rules and hand out bonuses to their staff. Bonuses are not supposed to be awarded for public servants, just a straight salary. That is part of the difference between the public and private sector. In the public sector if there is money left over at the end of the year, it is the CITIZENS MONEY! and should be returned to them or put in a rainy day fund. Instead, these politicians treat it like their own money and they give it to their friends.