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Will you pledge to immediately reconvene the Charter Revision Commission to revisit its recommendations and to discuss how to ensure its most important recommendations are placed on the next available city ballot? (Note: This helpful article in the Austin Bullldog explains how Council inaction put the kibosh on major reforms that should have been on the November ballot. The most egregious omission to us at IndyAustin was Recommendation 4 – which would close a loophole currently preventing petitions to repeal controversial Council decisions like the Precourt Soccer Stadium or the 2008 $2.3B biomass boondoggle – aka Voter Referendum. Read our Referendum page here.) Rate your support on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most support and 1 being the least.

Lewis Conway Jr.

City Council, District 1

I am in full agreement with Fred Lewis.

  • Democracy Dollars—Provide public campaign financing through Democracy Dollars. Developing this recommendation involved bringing in  a national expert who helped draft the Seattle law upon which it’s modeled and the Seattle official who implemented the public financing for that city’s 2017 council elections. In addition, a Seattle council member elected under that public financing system made two presentations in Austin.
  • Independent Ethics Commission—This body if established would administer and enforce all city laws related to campaign finance, campaign disclosures, conflicts of interest, financial statement disclosure, lobbyist regulations, revolving door, disqualification of members of city boards, certain conflicts of interest, ethics laws and more.
  • Budget and Efficiency Officer—To report to the City Council and provide advice on a wide range of financial matters.
  • Citizen-initiated initiatives—Provide up to 180 days after an ordinance is passed to petition for voters to approve or reject the ordinance. This would restore a right that was lost when council procedures changed to make implementation of ordinances effective immediately.

Rate your support: 10

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