#goodgovernment — Public Fediverse posts

Tonight the Thousand Oaks City Council unanimously approved its 2026 committee assignment roster.

Each councilmember represents your interests on a number of internal and external panels and commissions. These panels tie our city into regional, statewide, and national organizations where we meet colleagues, talk through issues of mutual concern, and learn of new solutions that directly benefit Thousand Oaks residents.

My assignments for the coming year include:

- Capital Facilities Committee (internal)

- Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA)

- Clean Power Alliance (CPA, also serve on CPA’s Finance Committee)

- Ventura Council of Governments (VCOG)

- Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance (VCREA)

- Ventura Regional Sanitation District (VRSD, current chair)

- National League of Cities Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee (NLC EENR)

- League of California Cities Environmental Quality Committee (Cal Cities EQ)

Most of the assignments are identical to last year’s. There are a few exceptions:

- Mayor pro tem Engler and I swapped positions on VCOG, where I now serve as primary delegate and he serves as alternate.

- Councilmember Gutierrez picks up new assignments: On the Ventura County Continuum of Care board; on NLC’s Finance, Administration, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee (FAIR); and on the board of Community Action of Ventura County (applied for and approved by the county Board of Supervisors).

#goodgovernment #thousandoaks #tocc

A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1937-01-20), Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C.

More info about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fdr #franklinroosevelt #franklindroosevelt #franklindelanoroosevelt #democracy #facts #feedback #freepress #freedomofthepress #goodgovernment #governance #government #publicservice #publictrust #trustee #truth

Ever see that classic horror movie where "The call is coming from inside the house"? Sometimes the ethics commissions themselves are trying to weaken campaign finance, lobbying, and conflict of interest laws. Read @ProPublica's article https://www.propublica.org/article/ethics-reform-legislation-blocked-statehouses

#CampaignFinance #GovernmentEthics #Lobbying #ConflictOfInterest #GoodGovernment #Advocacy #Politics

A quotation from Herbert Hoover

   The duty of public men in this Republic is to lead in standards of integrity — both in mind and money.
   Dishonor in public life has a double poison. When people are dishonorable in private business, they injure only those with whom they deal or their own chances in the next world. But when there is a lack of honor in Government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.
   Some folks seem to think these are necessary evils in a free government. Or that it is smart politics. Those are deadly sleeping pills. No public man can be just a little crooked.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, US President (1929-33)
Speech (1951-08-30), “Concerning Honor in Public Life,” Iowa Centennial Celebration, Des Moines, Iowa (radio broadcast)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/hoover-herbert/18705…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #herberthoover #badgovernment #cleverness #corruption #freegovernment #goodgovernment #government #graft #immorality #integrity #morality #necessaryevil #politics #publicfigure #publicservice #publicservant

A quotation from Thoreau

The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable, — of a bad one, to make it less valuable. We can afford that railroad, and all merely material stock, should lose some of its value, for that only compels us to live more simply and economically; but suppose that the value of life itself should be diminished!

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Speech (1854-07-04), “Slavery in Massachusetts,” Anti-Slavery Celebration, Framingham, Massachusetts

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoreau #badgovernment #goodgovernment #government #humanlife #life #values

Public Comment on the Rainy River Watershed Withdrawal

https://twitter.com/lvgaldieri/status/1478795253108912128?s=20

My written comments ran to five pages, so instead of posting them here, I put them online as a PDF, which you can read here. I also made a three-minute comment in the live session hosted by the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service this afternoon. My comments focus mainly on the story I’ve been pursuing for the past few years — a story of corruption. The first couple of paragraphs convey the general idea:

Federal lands in the Rainy River Watershed should be withdrawn from disposition under US mineral and geothermal leasing laws for the proposed initial twenty-year period, if not permanently. This is an overdue decision, grounded in science, economics, law, and environmental ethics.

Why, then, hasn’t it already happened? How did this withdrawal process, which started in 2017, go off track? Agency records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show clearly that a foreign mining company, Antofagasta plc, acted to prevent the withdrawal; and from 2017-2021, members of Congress and the executive branch ran political interference on its behalf. Decisions taken behind closed doors during that period served foreign private interests, not the American public interest. The agencies now have an opportunity to rectify the situation.

I end with three recommendations:

The announcement on October 20, 2021, that the Biden administration will complete the “science-based environmental analysis” was encouraging. Given all the political interference, the two-year study really ought to have been started all over again, from scratch, in the interest of scientific integrity. At the very least, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack should release – unredacted — the preliminary findings of the canceled two-year scientific study, so that they can be compared with the new and complete analysis.

As agencies work toward a science-based decision on the twenty-year withdrawal, they also need to take additional steps to restore public confidence and guard against undue influence. As a first step, the USDA Inspector General could review Secretary Perdue’s decision to cancel the 2017 withdrawal process and report on scientific independence, ethical conduct, and political interference at the agency.

Finally, the agencies can help raise standards. Industry repeatedly assures us that non-ferrous mining in the Rainy River Watershed and elsewhere can be done “responsibly,” and there are a growing number of calls, from Congress and from within the Biden administration, for “responsible mining” for the transition to renewables. How should government respond? Rigorous and practical guidance for agencies on the law and ethics as well as the technical and scientific aspects of “responsible mining” would be a good start.

Here is a recording of my three-minute live comment, which tracks all this pretty closely. Video is cued to the mark.

https://youtu.be/jThQgcFySC8?t=8859

#BoundaryWaters #corruption #environmentalEthics #ethics #ethicsOfMining #goodGovernment #governmentFailure #Water