Mission Statement
The mission of LBR is to shed light on Long Beach city government and to pass the Long Beach Political Reform Act, mandating:
● transparency and immediacy in online reporting of all campaign committee contributions—whether candidate-controlled, officeholder, or independent expenditure—by means of a searchable online portal to be updated daily by the Long Beach City Clerk, with completely digitized, cross-referenced data, and easy dissemination through social media and an RSS feed, in order to allow the public instant recognition of the when, to whom, from whom, and how much of big money contributions in local politics;
● a revolutionary new concept in local political reform and transparency, something we call the PIR (Political Influence Report) process, modeled in spirit (though much simpler in implementation) on the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) process (required since 1970 by the California Environmental Quality Act), in order to shed light on any big money contributions from individuals or entities with development projects coming up for approval before elected officials whose political aspirations may previously have been enhanced by those same individuals’ or entities’ largesse;
● creation of a new Political Reform & Oversight City Commission charged with reconsidering the current campaign contribution limits and other rules governing municipal campaigns and officeholder accounts, as well as other measures to reduce the potential for corruption of the local government process (such as, for example, a full-time council, which would allow council members to focus on the job of understanding the complex matters before them rather than relying on mayor- and city manager-influenced staff reports and summaries), and to receive, monitor, investigate, and report on citizens’ and whistleblowers’ complaints of possible instances of public corruption; and
● a resolution calling on the California State Legislature to enact a law creating an Office of the Municipal Inspector General to regularly inspect and report on ethics and corruption in local government (a need which has grown exponentially in an era of declining local newspapers and the near disappearance of their function as the local media watchdogs investigating and reporting on local government malfeasance and ineffectiveness).
FIAT LUX IN URBE LONG BEACH IMPERIO
