Let’s take a stand against corruption

Brothers and Sisters:

San Bernardino is a city of blight. We face this every time we see the dilapidated buildings, the pockmarked streets, and the environmental pollution that lingers in our neighborhoods. But far worse than our material blight, is the profound emotional and spiritual blight brought about by the scourge of corruption.

This corruption and bribery has stolen from us the dreams of our youth and the legacy of our ancestors. It has wasted the labor of our working families and annihilated the enterprise of our honest small businesses. Pepe’s Tow Truck Company sued the City of San Bernardino alleging corruption in tow truck contracts for over 15 years and among 15 public officials. Businesswoman Stephanie Smith filed a lawsuit speaking to how past public elected officials engaged in massive cannabis pay to play schemes. Whistleblower Victor Munoz said in a legal declaration that former Mayor John Valdivia and current Ward 3 Councilman Juan Figueroa worked together to demand bribes for cannabis licenses.

John Valdivia and Ward 3 Councilman Juan Figueroa supported a Chinese developer in our downtown over an American company that wanted to build affordable housing. Another whistleblower and former chief of staff to John Valdivia, Matt Brown, said he and other city staffers were ordered to campaign for Ward 3 Councilman Juan Figueroa and former Councilwoman Bessine Richard on work time. Then, Ward 3 Councilman Juan Figueroa and former Councilwoman Bessine Richard in a March 15, 2020 council meeting supported spending taxpayer dollars defending John Valdivia from sexual harassment and employee retaliation.

Against such horrors, working families, small business people, and believers in democracy must adopt an ambitious plan of anti corruption measures. We can follow the lead of San Jose that recently passed a proposal to stop foreign influenced companies and Big Business in general from influencing their elections via loopholes in campaign finance law.

We can initiate a program of “Democracy Dollars” pioneered in Seattle that would give San Bernardino residents vouchers they can donate to local political campaigns. This would make political donors far more representative of the people instead of special interests.

We must resolutely and passionately restrict the funding of elected official’s legal fees with taxpayer dollars. In the event that some city staffers would decry such a move, we can make it politically toxic for electeds to protect their corrupt friends with our money. We should promote further transparency in the bidding process for city contracts with the tow truck and trash collection industries. We ought to keep the business license process fair for the cannabis industry in particular, where corrupt behavior has allowed the survival of the illegal cannabis market in San Bernardino and accordingly less revenue for the city budget. Last but not least, despite some good intentions in wanting to hire a permanent City Manager as fast as possible, we should not hire applicants with long and storied histories of corruption allegations.

As mail in ballots drop on February 5 and election day happens on March 5, it is up to us as voters to elect people who believe in these policies. As someone who does not take Corporate PAC or developer money, I hope to earn your vote, and more importantly, I hope you give your vote to candidates who also believe in strong anti-corruption initiatives.