Two related stories today about government and Parkway advocacy and work; one really bad, one really good. Let’s do the bad one first:
Advocates, who often spend their time trying to get government to do their job, and we have folks in North Sacramento that have been doing that for years regarding the illegal camping and the crime and degradation of habitat resulting from it, are usually and sadly, thought of as irritants by government.
We know better, and our past two Parkway Advocate Award winners (see our website http://www.arpps.org
are people government should be embracing for helping them do their job, which brings us to this story, the bad one:
Daniel Weintraub: Gadfly is an irritant to big donors, watchdog
By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
When it comes to regulating money in politics, disclosure is pretty much the only tool that's ever worked. Sunlight, as someone once said, is the best disinfectant.
As long as the Constitution guarantees free speech and the right of people to spend money to communicate their views to fellow citizens, attempts to limit the flow of campaign cash are so much wheel-spinning. Like water moving downhill, the money will always find a way to reach its goal. The best we can do is track it, expose it and give voters a chance to evaluate its impact before they make their decisions.
That's why it is so odd that California's official political watchdog might soon be trying to alter a law meant to encourage more complete disclosure of campaign contributions by big-time donors.
Today the FPPC, the Fair Political Practices Commission, is scheduled to consider asking the Legislature to rein in private citizens helping to smoke out major contributors who have failed to comply with the law.
The commission's staff is ticked at a quirky Long Beach financial consultant who is suing more than 200 donors he accuses of failing to follow a law requiring anyone who contributes more than $10,000 to a political campaign to report their contributions to the secretary of state.
Norm Ryan is a bit of a pest. Who else would spend weeks of his own time culling through thousands of records to find the alleged scofflaws? But he is just the kind of person the framers of the California Political Reform Act must have envisioned when they gave citizens the power to file private civil actions in cases where the authorities declined to prosecute.
A great advocate and for the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13502982p-14343472c.html
And here is the good story, government working to help the Parkway:
Parkway to branch out with plants: The greening near Estates Drive will help control flooding
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
By planting native trees, bushes and grasses, officials hope future generations will enjoy a more leafy setting along the American River Parkway in Arden Arcade.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and Sacramento County are partnering to plant 10 acres near Estates Drive to bolster flood protection.
Levee work was done in 2004, while the revegetation work began this year. The federal project is part of an upgrade of the levee system to reduce flooding.
The dozen or so planting spots along about a mile of the parkway drew some curious looks this summer from bike trail enthusiasts as plastic pipes were installed in the ground.
"When you see all the (sprinkler head) risers, it can make you wonder if there is a soccer field going in," said Trevor A. Burwell, senior natural resource specialist for the county.
That won't happen.
For the rest of this good story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13498469p-14339069c.html
