Platform

1. Create, maintain, and improve an environment for good jobs with good benefits.
2. Work with stake-holders, parent organizations, school districts, and the city to prioritize education.
3. Make Anaheim safe and protect the community to attract more visitors.
4. Promote Anaheim as a host city and destination city for our country and the world.
5. Beautify city, repair and maintain its vital infrastructure, and enforce its blight-code vigilantly.

Our City Government Needs More Transparency

Transparency for public officials and lawmakers forms a central part of our democratic process. Anaheim does not need back room deals by political insiders circumventing our city's channels of democracy. Simply having a link called "transparency" on the City's website is not enough. Our city needs to let the public know in advance what items will be voted on and also who's trying to influence those decisions.

Anaheim Needs Lobby Reform

When lobbyists and others seek lucrative contracts from our City Council and city officials the public deserves to know. I have been asking the Council for months to agendize the "Anaheim Transparency, Disclosure, and Accountability Reform Act." This reform would require council members and city officials to tell Anaheim residents about those people who approach them to influence policy.

Because we lack these safeguards a hotel developer was recently gifted a158 million dollar tax break. This is unhealthy for taxpayers and hurts Anaheim. This is just what I have been warning about for months. While a lot of taxpayer money is at stake, equally in danger is the public's trust in a city increasingly viewed as a pay-to-play city.

Let the People Vote

Our elected officials work for us, in theory. But when the residents are denied the opportunity for meaningful input -- as we were when a majority of the City Council voted for a bed-tax giveaway of 158 million dollars -- many feel disenfranchised. Anaheim residents should never let well-connected insiders take advantage of our beloved city.

We all want prosperous businesses and developments in Anaheim. But for that to happen we need businesses to know they will all be treated fairly rather than favoring one at the expense of all the others. We also know that tax giveaways of this magnitude seriously threaten our future tax revenues from the resort areas.

Let the people vote now on bed-tax giveaways since these will be affecting our quality of city services, including our police and fire departments, for many years to come.

John Leos and CA State Senator Lou Correa at Anaheim Community Event

John Leos and Chief Welter