Mayoral candidate Tom Martin has come out with a policy platform, which he titles “Fixing City Hall by Opening Government and Strengthening Fundamental Democracy.” You can read the whole thing here.
I’m particularly heartened to see Martin embrace the notion of a Sunshine Ordinance, a policy I’ve been pushing for many years, and which I detailed last August.
Martin has echoed many of my suggestions, including that all public contracts be in the public record; that the city adopt a public accounting system such that all public expenditures, including public employee salaries, be published annually; that a complete system of campaign finance reporting be implemented; and that a time at all council meetings be set aside for the public to address councillors about anything that’s on the public’s mind. I called for all agendas to be posted seven days in advance; Martin wasn’t quite so ambitious—he calls for 48 hours.
Martin also calls for the creation of a Sunshine Ordinance task force, which given our abysmal starting point and the huge bureaucratic cultural shift we need to bring about, is an excellent idea. He also has suggestions for rights of employees and the public.
I’m impressed. Here’s hoping that the other mayoral candidates can also embrace the Sunshine agenda, not just in wishy-washy platitudes about the “need for openness,” or whatever, but, as Martin has done, with concrete policy proposals that will give openness real legislative teeth.
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2012.
Finally, a candidate putting out some substance. Seems like the only one.
Having read through his platform and he seems to be putting forward lots of good ideas and includes the reasoning behind it.
I’ve talked to him in meetings where he’s presented to groups I am a part of and he’s pretty impressive. Honestly he is a lot stronger a candidate than I expected. He’s got real ideas and takes his time to put out thoughtful and well reasoned answers to questions. No political talk or new speak, just good solid policy and ideas that he is not afraid to debate.
I’m finding (and I know I am not the only one) that it’s impossible to get Savage to answer anything. I’ve tweeted to him, I’ve post to that useless tumblr site and all go unanswered. He’s also come to talk to groups I’m in a, while refined and likable, just seems to give political answers. He’s likable but we need to fix this city and quick.
Savage’s and his team keeps saying “Mike’s still talking to groups”. So is everybody. Mr. Savage – what were you doing in the months leading up to your announcement? On paper you should have a base knowledge of the issues. What do you stand for?
It’s clear that Mr. Savage ran for the “anything but Peter Kelly” vote and now that it is time for him to bring ideas he doesn’t have anything. What HRM needs is IDEAS and debate and a Mayor that is less interested in politics than people. We’re just getting rid of one of those. For heaven’s sake even his slogan – “I like Mike” was lifted from Ignatieff (which was lifted from Dwight Eisenhower). Come on.
Thanks, Mr. Martin for actually putting forward innovative well reasoned solutions. Fred Connors for being a visible and outspoken champion of the North End, Matt Worona for always being available and starting debates in social media, pushing accountability and ambitious reform. This is what we need – champions who aren’t afraid to stand for something… we just got rid a Mayor who always led from behind.
Our new Mayor should be working with the people, talking to them, be able to generate ideas and not be afraid to openly debate with other candidates and citizens. This race has been very telling.
(ESSC)
Mr Martin must not realise that the council agenda is posted on a Friday no later than 5 pm, which is 97 hours before the scheduled meeting. Last Friday it was online just after 4 pm.
Why does he want to cut that in half ?
I would be pleased to hear his thoughts on the issue of ‘Who decides the council agenda – the council or the CAO ? ‘
Boo JoeBlow. Do your homework. You’re losing your touch.
Go read the policy and you will see that after 48 hours IT CAN”T BE CHANGED without incurring penalties from the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. It avoids last minute changes to the agenda a la Peter Kelly.
Besides, I am sure basic process minutiae will be what saves HRM.
HRM certainly need leadership or innovative ideas.
You interesting in hearing ANYTHING from Savage, JoeBlow?
Or just spinning the message?
democritic – the council may decide to alter the agenda at any time for obvious reasons. Only the council can tie the hands of the council, the same in the legislature and parliament. Council decides to add or subtract items from the agenda and that is how it should be. New information may become available after the council package has gone out or some event may take place one day before the council meeting and the council may decide to discuss the event and the impact on HRM.
I am interested in hearing from all candidates, especially the peek-aboo candidate. Apparently he has no comment on the good news about Halifax – 4th best place for business in the world and 4th best place to live in Canada. He may have been spooked by the doom and gloom pollster. And he hasn’t had a comment about the hedge fund back office opening in Bedford rather than downtown Halifax. Seems the dreams of downtown skyscrapers are just dreams, or fantasies.
JoeBlow – I’m sure he has lots of great things to say about Halifax. Why would he be running for Mayor if he didn’t love the place? That argument makes no sense. But, I don’t think there is a single person in this Municipality who doesn’t think Halifax could be improved and if you don’t think that accountability measures are needed for Council you are in the very small minority.
And you are equating Martin saying nothing on one issue as opposed to Savage saying nothing about anything? Sorry, Savage did answer two questions posed to all candidates on twitter and he essentially parroted Martin’s policies. Again, I’ve put questions to that tumblr site he has set up to be “engaging” and still no answers. He has that “TeamSavageHRM” twitter account that is run by a blogger and essentially buffers him from having to say anything or being accountable for anything that is said.
Martin has tonnes of material on his site; more than I have ever seen on a Municipal politician’s site. He’s showing he has ideas. He’s obviously not afraid to put them out there for debate. A leader like would be good for the city. Worona answers questions non-stop and is the most active candidate on twitter and is not afraid to say he is still learning (good for him, he is coming with more game than most expected). Fred, quite frankly, says whatever the hell he wants, and that is good for the people he represents. At least they are being open. (I was in Boyd’s cab not too long ago… he definitely has things to say too. Things that are entertaining if not feasible).
I don’t know where the skyscraper argument comes in. In the meeting I was in he talked about density in the core. I know one thing though – the tallest residential building in Manhattan is 51 stories, 48 stories in Halifax makes no sense. I doubt that it was ever really intended to be built that high. I am a big fan of more development but that is not the right way to go about it. Martin seemed to positive on it, but I am not going to speak for him.
There is always room to make Halifax better. This platform is about accountability and transparency which is so dearly needed in local politics. This is about Council oversight by citizens (How absurd! Citizens have no place overseeing their elected officials!) This is a basic of Sunshine Laws everywhere.
The policy says “While the specifics of this Sunshine Ordinance (which I commit to champion) will be worked out with full, open, direct public involvement…” and has mechanism for even cancelling meetings, I am sure the proposed Task Force and citizens would work out Minutiae. Again you seem to losing the forest for the trees. The fact is this is a “Big Idea”, a principled platform piece, long overdue and the thing to come out of HRM politics I can remember (The process behind HRMbyDesign was pretty substantial, but you know: RIP HRMbyDesign).
No one is saying that Halifax is not a great place to live, but it is not perfect. Read Martin’s policies and responses, they have all been about giving people and community more influence which is an improvement.
When you aim to fix a place you don’t change what is working; you change what is not. City Hall is not working and this addresses it. HRM needs transformative ideas, strong citizen influence in civic affairs and civil debate. Martin is showing he is not only open to this, but willing to push it.
I am hoping to get something from Savage’s soon and will judge it on it’s merits, but if the way he is campaigning is any indication he seems to quite happy with the status quo and not serious about engaging citizens in any meaningful way. It would be a shame to be faced with four more years of that nonsense.
I’m not ready to commit to a candidate yet, but I can say this: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a candidate more willing to talk facts and ideas than slogans and platitudes. In as far as that goes, Martin seems to be a much needed breath of fresh air.
democritic – there is only one peek-aboo candidate and it isn’t Mr Martin. The people supporting Mr Peek-aboo keep complaining about how bad HRM is, lack of leadership, empty downtown sites, height restrictions affecting development downtown. They are predominantly people upset with the Commonwealth Games decision and others who think a mayor is all powerful.
All BS.
HRM is full of cranes, none available except in the USA or do as one developer did and import a crane from Europe. Lack of development downtown is not the fault of the council.
New rules about the council agenda is of little importance other than in the context of the relationship between the Mayor and Council and the CAO. The CAO seems to set the agenda and decides when reports will be placed before the council, he has said so when asked about an item by a councillor and he said it would be seveal months before the report was put forward. In my opinion a council decides collectively when and what items appear on the agenda. They should be more assertive in the manner of a board of directors. Other than that the Mayor is just there to chair meetings and speak for HRM; the power lies with the council and it has always been that way.
Well put Democritic! It is refreshing (and about time) to have a candidate come out with substance and to not be afraid to be held accountable for what he is putting out there.
Also, I think it is fantastic that Martin is so accessible; he is using twitter as a way to reach out to our citizens to hear their thoughts and concerns and to answer any questions they may have. On April 17 four questions were asked to the candidates via twitter, Martin was the only one who answered all four. He posted his answers on his website which were detailed and very well thought out. I like the fact that he was not rushing to reply in a tweet just to get something out there (those questions deserve more than a 140 character reply), but rather to took the time to respond in a way that properly answered the questions and showed that he is willing to put himself out there.
Given everything thus far, I think it is fairly safe to say that Martin has my vote!
JoeBlow –
I misread to whom you were referring. I lost it in the paragraph break. I assume you are referring to Mr. Savage as the peek-a-boo politician. There for photo ops, gone when it comes time to say anything of substance.
I’ve also read the HRM Act. I agree that Council wields most of the power. Although the CAO does have a shocking amount of influence on the process. I have troubles whenever an non-elected official can act the way Mr. Butts has been. I would like to see the CAO position to be more like an Executive Director-under a Board of Directors, also.
However, I do not think this proposal is merely a minor procedure difference being proposed, but rather a huge shift in the mechanisms of accountability and transparency that oversees Council as it wields its power. There is nothing wrong with oversight, in fact I find it a very desirable thing. This platform piece is much bigger than that and to me shows a commitment to citizens, respect of their role in a healthy democracy. I thought it was really nice to see a substantial idea put forward.
As a digression, I heard that developer had to bring in a crane operator from Europe also as, apparently, they are operated different over there.
Anyway, I enjoyed the back and forth.