Principles

Alternative Institutions. I believe in alternative institutions. Institutions that could eventually be self sustaining and continue to work on the community's problems. I believe we should use the power of our municipal government to support worker cooperatives, housing cooperatives, land trusts, collectives, B-corporations, and non-profits.

Ethics and Accountability. I believe in accountability for our elected leaders and public officials. That includes for myself. It's vitally important for elected officials to be aware of power dynamics and how they can impact interactions, to be careful of conflicts of interest, and to own their mistakes and failures.

Transparency. I firmly believe the community is the ultimate decision maker. If the community is the decision maker, then the community needs to have all the information necessary upon which to make those decisions. The government needs to be completely transparent -- not just in form, but in function. We'll know we're doing enough when the average citizen of Bloomington can't help but be aware of what our municipal government is doing, what the debates of the day are, and exactly how to get involved in those debates if they so choose.

Democracy. I believe in direct democracy and consensus. I want to see democracy function well in the government, and I want to see the community more directly involved in the decision making process. Ideally, the role of an elected leader would be to facilitate discussion and work to build consensus. Some times that can include working hard to convince people of a certain course, but ultimately the community should be making the decision. I would seek to make our system more consensus driven and directly democratic.