Four years ago, voters in the City of San Diego passed Proposition C, which required the City to pursue managed competition to save tax dollars. Since then, the City has outsourced all of ONE lousy contract, primarily due to stalling by public labor unions coupled with lily-livered elected officials.
A signature gathering effort kicked off with a fundraiser at Vin de Syrah on April 15 for the “Competition & Transparency in City Contracting Initiative.” Hey, on Tax Day many of us are drinking, so we might as well tip it for a good cause.
Call this initiative “Son of Prop C.” It would strengthen the original Prop C by mandating that all city contracts be published online and impose clear and accountable rules for open competition. If the effort is successful, it will be placed on the November 2010 ballot.
San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio hosted the event. I applaud Carl’s effort to stir things up downtown by applying some honest-to-God business principles to the way the City of San Diego operates. Wow,talk about radical! Imagine that! I joined Carl as a member of the host committee.
An unusual diverse group of over 100 people attended, and for once it wasn’t the usual suspects. The diversity of the crowd was notable, a true cross section of business leaders and we even had (gasp!) 15-20 Democrats there!
The event raised over $26,175 with lots of smaller donations. It’s a great start and a testament to how immensely frustrated so many of us are with the City’s refusal to find meaningful ways to cut spending.
I asked Carl to share his thoughts on the evening’s results. He said the following: “Almost four years ago, San Diegans overwhelmingly voted to require city government to use competitive bidding to save taxpayer monies. Unfortunately, nothing has been done since that historic vote. San Diego taxpayers deserve better from their city government. We have given the politicians a chance to implement Prop C, and after three years, we will go back to the polls to impose more reform. Democracy may be delayed, but it will not be denied.”
I encourage you to get on board with a donation to this signature gathering effort. Think of it as an investment that will end up be returned many times over in taxpayer dollars saved. You can donate via credit card at this link. Tell ’em The Libertarian Lass sent you.