Lust for Power

By Paul DeSantis

In spring 2001, the City Attorney prepared an official ballot summary for the VERITAS election reform charter amendment. As required by law, it was a neutral summary, not a partisan political argument.

With more than 9,000 signatures, VERITAS qualified for the upcoming November 2002 ballot. On June 11th, Mayor Michael Feinstein, an outspoken VERITAS opponent, illegally told the City Attorney to revise the impartial VERITAS summary, which was completed over a year ago. ("Council Urges Changes in Ballot Measure Language," June 12)

Feinstein requested the addition of several partisan, anti-VERITAS statements. This shocking disrespect for the democratic process and illegal tampering with an impartial ballot summary reminds us why we need election reform.

If the impartial summary is politicized, a court challenge is certain. Courts will not allow politicians to tamper with ballot summaries to suit their own agenda. One of Feinstein's instructions was to add to the VERITAS ballot summary a statement that by holding an election during the California spring primary with a runoff election in November, the City will incur a (small) additional cost.

Yet, in an appalling display of hypocrisy, Feinstein did not ask for a similar addition to the ballot summary for the Living Wage Ordinance (which he supports) even though his proposal will cost Santa Monica $3 Million a year, not counting the enormous cost of a lengthy legal challenge. That is approximately 133 times more money than a runoff election every two years, not counting the extra litigation costs.

Rather than object to the Mayor's illegal abuse of power, the slate dominated Council majority provided no "check and balance." The majority simply sat back, amused and delighted. Council Member McKeown even encouraged the Mayor. Only Council Member Holbrook performed his duty to object to Feinstein's illegal, anti-democratic actions.

Feinstein is unwilling to share the enormous political power his slate controls. He opposes VERITAS's checks and balances because VERITAS would open up the system to independent neighborhood candidates who could be elected to the City Council without the corrupting influence of slate campaign money. No independent candidate has been elected to the City Council in over two decades. Slates financially dominate the current citywide elections, which allows slate leaders, like Michael Feinstein, to have the final say on who will run for the slate and sit on the City Council.

Feinstein also opposes the direct election of the Mayor. If the People elect the Mayor, the Mayor will be accountable to the People, not to a slate dominated City Council, which slate leaders like Feinstein control. VERITAS will provide a missing check and balance between an independent Mayor and an independent City Council, similar to the check and balance between the President of the United States and Congress, and between the Governor and the California State legislature.

James Madison warned about the "lust for power" more than two hundred years ago. Madison, Adams, and Jefferson believed that while there is inherent virtue in people, we can never put full confidence in any single group of elected officials, for humans also are selfish and ambitious.

Given the opportunity, elected officials will abuse power - as they did in Santa Monica on June 11th. The Federalist Papers explain that in order to protect our liberty from the "lust for power," we must counterbalance "ambition against ambition." This same American system of checks and balances is at the heart of the VERITAS good government reforms.

The United States of America is the oldest democratic republic in the world, thanks in large part to the genius of the checks and balances system enshrined in the US Constitution. Surely we can do no wrong by incorporating these same noble Constitutional principles into our City Charter.

The State of California and most of our important California cities already have these check and balance reforms - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Long Beach, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, and Berkeley, among others. Outside of California, VERITAS principles have been long established in the overwhelming majority of state governments and US cities.