LeAnna Cumber Announces Transparency Pledge with 10 Ways to Bring Accountability to Jacksonville Government
At the Jacksonville Mayoral debate tonight, LeAnna Cumber announced the Transparency pledge to bring transparency and accountability to the operations of Jacksonville City Hall.
Cumber said, “For far too long, City Hall has been run by a small group of insiders, whose primary goals are to retain power and reward their friends. Your government should not be keeping you in the dark or making secret deals that do not put Jacksonville’s taxpayers and families first.
“Crime is at a 23 year high, less than half of our city’s third graders can read at grade level, our quality of life is diminished by trash, homelessness and drag racing, and city leaders keep raising taxes to fund wasteful projects like the Skyway to Nowhere.
“We can do better. But in order to do so, we must first address the root cause of the ongoing failure to meet Jacksonville’s potential–a closed city government that is not responsive to its citizens.”
LeAnna Cumber’s 10-point Transparency Pledge to clean up Jacksonville city government.
As Mayor, LeAnna Cumber pledges to:
- Refuse gifts from any citizen, including private plane rides, vacations, sports tickets, concert tickets or lavish meals intended to influence city government decisions.
Neither I nor any appointee to my Administration may accept gifts over $25 from any citizen.
- End nepotism and favoritism in city government and appoint only the most qualified individuals.
All appointments will be based on the candidate’s qualifications, competence, and experience, and no relative of the Mayor, by blood or marriage, may serve in an appointed or civil service position.
- Prohibit my campaign consultants and staff from making money as “gatekeepers” to my Administration.
Campaign staff and consultants are prohibited from lobbying any city official on any city matter during my tenure as Mayor.
- Shut the Revolving Door; appointees in my Administration may not lobby city government for 2 years after leaving their post.
No appointee in my Administration will be able to take advantage of making decisions that benefit individuals and/or companies then get hired as soon as they leave. In addition, my appointees will be prohibited from working on any issues that they personally worked on during their tenure in government.
- Prohibit “golden parachutes.” Appointees in my Administration are there to serve you, not for any private sector compensation.
No appointee may accept a payment or non-cash benefit “golden parachute” that is only offered to individuals accepting positions in my Administration.
- Eliminate secret dealings and ensure that the work my Administration is doing on your behalf is 100% transparent.
To ensure complete transparency, the use of “burner” phones, confidential messaging apps, personal e-mail correspondence, text messages or any other means of communication to circumvent open government laws by any member of my Administration will be prohibited.
- Require all individuals in my Administration to sign and abide by the Transparency ethics pledge.
All appointees must sign a pledge agreeing to abide by these ethics rules.
- Stop the secrecy and let everyone know what the Mayor is doing.
The Mayor’s full calendar will be posted on the city website. A log of visitors to the Mayor’s office will be available to media, citizens and interest groups upon request.
- Communicate regularly with you.
As Mayor, I will hold, at minimum, one media availability per month throughout my tenure in office.
- Open city government to everyone.
Create dashboards to make it easy for citizens to access information about their government and navigate city services, city funding and other budgetary items.
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