Dr. Watkins for Mayor of Chicago: A Declaration of Independence

On January 15, 2011, I sent the following email to the (hopefully) next mayor of Chicago:

QUOTE:

I am a “white” resident of Chicago who will be voting for Dr. Van Pelt Watkins on Feb. 22. Chicago will be lucky to have such a fine person as mayor.

For what it’s worth, I wish to offer a few tips which your campaign might find useful. Also, for what it’s worth, I have been a state civil service worker at Northeastern Illinois University for 29 years. I’m about as ordinary and powerless a citizen as can be imagined. However, I do have one minor claim to fame: I was the only candidate in the history of this country to run for US president (in 2008) on the basis of a legally-enforceable contract. If I had been elected, if I had violated any of the 47 campaign promises listed in my written & signed Electoral Contract, I would have forfeited my office.

That leads me to my first tip for your campaign:

Dr. Watkins might consider offering such a contract herself, a sample of which follows:

QUOTE:

Electoral Contract specific to Chicago’s Mayor

This link leads to my blog on which I detail what a US president’s electoral contract [my own contract, back in 2008] could look like:

http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2010/09/written-political-contracts.html

The enforcement mechanism, in this case, is quite simple: If I were to violate any of my written campaign promises yet fail to resign the presidency, the Congress could impeach me. However, there is another way which could be included in Dr. Watkins’ contract, since there’s no way to impeach Chicago’s mayor:

“If an opinion poll of registered Chicago voters conducted by the respected polling firm of _____ would ever show 50% saying I should resign as mayor, I would have to either resign immediately or forfeit a ‘bond’ in the amount of ____ held in trust by ____.” [NOTE: Any such poll would have to be paid for the mayor’s detractors.]

Other possible mayoral campaign promises:

ONE: If elected, I would have no part in raising taxes or fees for four years.

TWO:  If elected, I would have no part in granting public money (not even by means of bond issues) for the benefit of privately owned corporations, especially sports franchises, especially in regard to construction of new ball parks.

THREE:  Discretionary money in TIF accounts, controlled by the mayor, would be spent as follows: 50% for school improvement (not for any salary increases), 30% for (other) infrastructure improvements, and 20% to hire more police officers.

FOUR: If the day comes when the city council consists of at least 50% independent aldermen not aligned with any political party, I would seek majority approval by such Council for legislation, that being sufficient for enactment. Also, I would step aside and allow the Council to select its own presiding officer and, in all respects, operate independently of the mayor.

:UNQUOTE.

Other suggestions

Dr. Watkins should emphasize that she is an independent who believes Chicagoans have suffered under one-party, strongman mayor rule for too long. Single party rule dominated by a strongman is typical of stagnant third world countries. And this is not fitting for a leading world-class city like Chicago.

On the other hand, this is not a suggestion that competition in the form of a revived GOP is welcome. What is really needed, here and nationwide, is an end to the Two Party System’s dominance. When elected officials are beholden to a political party, they lose their connection to the people they’re supposed to service.

As mayor, Dr. Watkins would invite City Council members to sever their allegiance to the Democratic Party and declare as independents. Either that, or face challenges from independents who will start to look increasingly attractive to a party-weary public.

It’s time for Chicagoans to declare their independence by voting for independents.

With people like Rahm Emanuel, we don’t know what favors he’ll be expected to grant in exchange for campaign contributions. With the other candidates, they will behave as good servants, doing what’s best for the Democratic Party without any care for the ordinary citizens of Chicago.

As Mayor, Dr. Watkins could lead for renegotiation of the city’s parking meter deal by threatening to lead meter boycotts on certain selected days, saying, “On these dates, I urge all citizens to take public transportation instead of feeding bloated parking meters. We will continue this boycott until this blatantly unfair contract is renegotiated.”

I hope you will consider these possibilities as foci for your campaign.

Sincerely,

Steven Searle

Candidate for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party

:UNQUOTE.

Post Script

I’m going to send another email to the Watkins campaign, suggesting that she add one more facet to her campaign: Advertise heavily that she, if elected, will aggressively investigate Chicago’s more hidden aspects of corruption. She can do this by means of her executive authority as mayor, and by inviting the feds to come in and pour over the books. She can order all agency heads to fully cooperate in this investigation. If this trail of investigation leads to where I strongly suspect, Mayor Richard M. Daley might end up doing the perp walk after all.

In any event, such revelations will be to the good of all of Chicago’s citizens.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors Party

" #1: Anybody but Rahm; #2: Anybody but a Dem/Pub; #3: Watkins is actually a very good option."