Cronyism. Undemocratic.
Just some of the words that come to mind as I think of the City Council’s post-election behavior in 2010. First they found a solution in search of a problem: they removed term limits for appointed commissioners. Then they raised to $1,000 the amount individuals could donate to City Council candidates. Again, who was complaining that there wasn’t enough money in local politics? And then, to add insult to injury, the report they presented to Councilmembers and the Public was factually incorrect about other agencies’ campaign contribution limits.
Then take into consideration all the pre-election news from the City Council and staff. The vote to support those ridiculous right-wing immigration bills to appease the know-nothing immigrant bashers and to co-opt David Gauny’s base. The rush to get the Cross Valley Connector opened just weeks before the election. The Newhall Library groundbreaking (apparently the design hadn’t been settled upon prior to the groundbreaking, or so we learned later). The lack of any real substantive talk about the chloride matter until after 4/13/10.
Taking all that pre- and post-election business into consideration and it’s become clear now that this is a City that doesn’t countenance challenges to the status quo very well. It is a city that desires smoothness, cohesiveness and continuity above all else. It is as if the council and the staff are one, and they react as one to perceived threats, scratching each other’s backs for the sake of the other.
“Where the Good life Takes you,” has become “Don’t rock the boat.”
But democratic government isn’t supposed to be like that. Democratic government is about give and take, conflict and competing interests. It’s not supposed to be efficient and business-like. It’s sometimes messy, slow, and inefficient because, guess what, that’s the only way man has figured out how to govern large groups of people with different interests. And in Santa Clarita, there are large groups of people with different interests.
It’s as if the City of Santa Clarita, now almost 23 years old, is devolving into a less democratic organization rather than a more democratic one. We just had one of the closest elections in our history; a normal government might step back and say, “Wow, there’s a lot of discontent out there. Let’s see if we can reach out to these people.”
Not our city: instead they’re making it harder for potential candidates to run (knowing full well that few will donate the thousands required to defeat an incumbent who can just collect 10 or 15 $1000 checks.) And they’re making it harder for interested citizens to be appointed to commissions and committees because there will rarely, if ever, be vacancies on those commissions.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the staff does a great job and is responsive to the public by and large. But you can’t deny that there is a comfortable clique at City hall more interested in self-preservation and smooth operation than in true democratic governance.
Sidenote: Of personal interest to me is how Bob Kellar alternately plays hero and villain in my view of City Hall. Last winter he was the villain, whipping up anti-immigrant fervor out of nowhere and for no particular reason, lending his good name and title to the nuttiest people in a 200 mile radius. Now, summer 2010, I find myself agreeing with him and admiring him for being vocal about money in local elections. Local politics is strange.
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