With all of what is happening in Canada and the world with politicians thinking they are better than the rest of us I got to writing down some of my thoughts about politicians and what I see as their role in serving us (and not us serving them). I may work on other things about politicians and post them here instead of my using Linux (and windows) topics.
I am not a political science expert, but, after decades of watching
politicians at all levels of government I would like to put into
writing things we the people should do to reform the political
process and make it work for the people instead of the people working
for the politicians.
First and foremost the politician's primary loyalty is to his or her
constituents. If the politician is at the local level it is expected
that they do not represent any political party. The
provincial/territorial/federal level parties need to be reminded that
the people elected the politician to represent the people of the
riding and the decisions of the politicians should reflect the needs
of the people over the needs of the party.
Every decision they make can be traced through their documents and
communications and is stored outside of their control by the
government and is open to the people for review. Some may not be
available for a fixed period of time due to security, personnel,
contractual issues, but, are eventually open to the scrutiny of the
people.
Finances
It should be a given that all politicians keep current and accurate
financial record of their running their office. All records should
be kept at a minimum using GAAP. All electronic records should be
stored in an open format and is available to all citizens upon
request. All records should be available to the auditor general of
that level of government upon request and the results are published
and available to all citizens. All requests should be met within one
calendar month, failure should result in the suspension of all
privilege and duties of the politician until the records are
supplied. If the records are not supplied within three calendar
months then the position of the politician is declared open and a
by-election must be held within sixty days.
All contributions to the politician should be from a person. Union
and corporate contributions should not be allowed. Over the decades
it appears that politicians are more responsive to the needs of large
organizations and lobbyist rather than the needs of the individual
constituent. forcing politicians to accept contributions at the
personal level would force them to listen to the people and if the
people don't like what the politician has done they can make their
displeasure known with their wallets along with their vote. All
contributions must be recorded as part of the politician's financial
records, no exceptions! At the end of their campaign their records
must follow the laws laid out and if not followed, a time-line
similar to their finances of office are followed.
The pay for politicians are fixed for their term and cannot be
changed until the next election. Outside experts will review the pay
levels and make three recommendations. The first is that the pay
remains at the same level. The second is to make a minor pay
increase that is at the level of the lowest pay increase given to a
bargaining unit during the prior term. The last recommendation is
for a specific increase and document all of the reasons that lead to
that recommendation. The three choices are part of the ballot in the
next election. At no point can a government grant any special pay,
bonuses or any special financial arrangements to themselves.
If the politician is asked to give a speech or help out with fund
raising or a charity the politician cannot receive anything in return
for performing that duty as they are compensated by the people to
perform their job and this is part of their job. Travel,
accommodation and other expenses will be covered by the politician
and the expense is recorded according to the rules of the
local/provincial/territorial/federal government they represent. All
receipts detailing their expenses will be kept and stored as part of
their financial records.
For their pension they should all be on a defined contribution plan
and not a defined benefit. The main incentive is for the politician
to serve the people and not to remain in office long enough to
collect a pension at the expense of the people.
GIFTS
In the simplest terms, no gifts! Politicians are paid by the people to do the job they were elected to do. There are times that people, business or governments do provide a gift it should be held in trust for the people and not by the politician. All gifts should be recorded and the list including the donor is open to the people (and auditor) on demand. Gifts of tickets to events, travel, accommodation, conferences, etc. are not allowed!Term limits
All politicians can serve only a maximum of two full terms before
stepping down for at least one full term. If the term they serve is
less than one full term (depending on what a normal term is for the
specific level of government) they can serve the next two full terms.
For example at the local level a term is three years. If the
politician is elected with two years left they can serve that term
and the next two terms for a total of eight years before sitting out
for the next three year term. This will force a turnover and allow
new people and hopefully new ideas to serve. It will also hopefully
force out professional politicians who know nothing, but, politics
and allow talented people a chance to step up and serve the people.
To put it bluntly, politicians should want to run for a limited
number of issues they want to address and they have only two terms to
get them done, or started, before leaving office. If the politician
cannot get it done in two terms they probably could not get it done
with unlimited terms.
Lobbyist
All activities, meetings, discussions with a politician, or his/her
staff is to be logged. Even a simple meeting with their constituents
is kept in a log. If the person is acting as a lobbyist then the
information on who they are working for is recorded. It is expected
that the politician will keep an agenda of all activities and is
submitted for archiving at a minimum every quarter. The politician
must sign under oath that the records are true and accurate.
Communications
A record of all communications will be retained outside the control
of the politician. If the communication is in hard copy format then
where possible it is scanned and stored in an open format for
archival. If not then the document is turned over to the government
for archival and a note in electronic format documents this and where
it is stored and the retention period. The Provincial Liberal party
in 2013 deleting electronic communications demonstrates the need for
a group outside the politician/party controlling and archiving
communications. This also will apply to communication mediums that
are not official government communications. If there are
communications of this nature it must be forwarded to the official
account and a note sent to the originator that all government
communications must use the appropriate government account. Any
politician or their staff violating this must turn over ownership of
the account to the government immediately.
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