MIN CHC 1989-04-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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BETHEA: Well, you know, just to go back and talk about this zoning thing, the land use decision. If there are political contributions that are an attribute of that, you first have to get through the Planning Commission, and I-:think most people who have been dealing with the Planning Commission don' t find that an easy task because you' ve got to con political people on the commission. But in any event, the Planning Director is appointed by the mayor with the approval of the Council. But then you have zoning ordinances which are passed by the County Council, so you know, if there are politics involved, it ' s with the County Council as well as with the mayor , and. . . SMITH: Indeed , and I agree. . . BETHEA: . . . it ' s a difficult process in any event, and I don' t know that. . . I don' t know that that ' s true, that people buy their way through land use decisions , sub- division decisions, or zoning decisions that end up before the County Council. SMITH: Let me clarify a couple of things . First of all, public financing would be for Council candidates as well. The formulas can be worked out and they have been worked out in this instance. It' s not difficult to do. . Second of all, there ' s no claim of a direct relationship between a campaign contribution and a decision. People are smarter than that. It ' s much more subtle. And it has to do with the access that individuals have to government . Politicians are busy people and they have so many hours a day that they can sPend with members of the public . Now if you have. . .you 've decided that yyou're ' gonna to give six hours a day to government service and you have to allot that in some fashion. Are, you more likely to allot it in a fashion that allows you to spend time with local contributors or non-contributors , all of the things being equal? The contributors have an advantage. Now that advantage plays itself out in a number of different ways . For example, it provides them not only access in the formal sense but provides them access in aninformal_. sense. For example, all parties socializing that they might not otherwise have were it not, for the campaign contribution system. That access leads to friendships , what have you, that further enhances one ' s ability to get things done and enhances one ' s opportunities for additional access in dealing with County workers . So it ' s very subtle. It ' s there. - Unfortunately, if it were an easy cause and effect relationship that we could all identify, we could all point to it and stop it. But it ' s not that easy. But if you think about it. . .most people who think about it, can see and feel that it ' s there. I 'm not trying to be vague, but. . . 178