On average, less than 25% of the eligible voters in Huntington show up at the polls on Election Day, leaving an even smaller percentage to determine policies that influence spending, land use and code enforcement.
This lack of involvement by the voting public can open the door to all types of mischievous behavior by lobbyists and career politicians. As we all know, reports of waste, fraud and patronage in town hall rarely make headlines these days.
To remedy this situation, SaveHuntington will be sponsoring three resolutions ("A.C.T. To Save Huntington") to present to the town board for adoption.
These reforms are designed foster greater public involvement in the political process and end the type of Tammany Hall shenanigans that have turned off so many voters in recent years.
Here is a brief summary of the full resolutions that can be found on savehuntington.com:
A - Audit - institute an annual Performance Audit that will identify waste, fraud and help improve efficiency.
C - Campaign Finance Reform- clamp down on special interests that corrupt the election process by changing the ethics code in order to end the practice of ‘kickbacks’ to elected officials’ campaign committees.
T - Term Limits – adopt a two (4) year term maximum for all town board members. The regular rotation of elected officials will help facilitate greater diversity and public involvement.
Let’s not waste another election year listening to the same old gratuitous clichés and tired rhetoric that usually clogs up the airways.
It’s time to force the candidates to take a stand on these issues and ‘A.C.T. To Save Huntington’ before it’s too late.
