SCN: Message from Mr. Piero Bugoni, Candidate for Mayor of Seattle.

[Piero.Bugoni at Bugoni.net]

Fellow Citizen,


My name is Mr. Piero Bugoni. I am a Candidate for Mayor of Seattle.

I hope that I have not imposed upon you by sending you this note, but I
do believe that matters of Law, our City Government and our general
welfare for the next four years are important enough to contact as many
Citizens as possible. I got your e-mail address from the SCN website.

I was able to get close to 10,000 e-mail addresses in all, from a 
variety of commercial and public-domain websites. A brief writeup on 
how this was done will be posted on my website:


        http://Bugoni.net


In the meantime, I have posted some informational summaries on matters
of law, the budget, taxes and municipal statistics. I think it benefits
every Citizen to know this sort of information, and I have summarized
it in a manner that hopefully can be reviewed and understood in just a
few minutes. In addition, I keep a Campaign Journal on  my website so
that you can see what I have been up to, and a link to my page from
the Seattle Elections website, so that you can see my statements from
the Voter's Pamphlet, and the Video Voters Guide.

Before I go on to matters of policy, and my platform, I wish to say to
any Citizens who may have lost family or people they know in the recent
attack on America that I know nothing can heal that pain, or bring
those people back. I know as well, however, that I personally would go
into foreign lands to bring those who perpetrated those acts to proper
justice. I would not lose a moment's sleep over it.

America will stand, America will continue.

While this nation is no longer the same as it was just a few days ago,
matters of our local government must go on nonetheless.

I have included some statements of policy below, that I would like you
to consider.

I am a working Citizen same as any other. I make no special claim to
greatness. I simply have taken it upon myself to get involved. I have
taken the time to review the City and County Budgets, State, Federal
and Municipal Law, the City Charter, Court opinions on Constitutional
Matters, and the City's labor contracts that expire this year.

I am serious about the job of Mayor. I have approached it in as
business-like a manner as I can, as opposed to one of politics, antics,
derogation, blame, or pedantics.

I hope that you can appreciate this, and give me your Vote on September
18th. It is important to remember that only the top two candidates from
the Primary Election advance to the General Election. This means that
between Mr. Nickels and myself, we can create a situation where Mr.
Schell and Mr. Sidran do not even make it to The General election.

Many Citizens have voiced their approval when I mention this, It is a
public service I am happy to provide.


Thank You.
Mr. Piero Bugoni,
Candidate for Mayor,
Seattle.


Matters of Policy, and my Executive Agenda:

1.) CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED: Our State Constitution Guarantees it, I
will deliver it. Many Citizens have complained to me that governmental
bodies in this State are indifferent to the desires of their
Constituency and have nothing but an agenda to impose. This  is
unacceptable. Whether campaigning, or just living here as a Citizen, I
constantly listen to what people have to say about their local
existence.

Citizens have plenty of good ideas as to how to better our community,
our economy, and facilitate our existence. Frankly, it is the Citizens
that are best suited to decide what the Citizens need. Facilitating
Citizens' desires into workable policy is a prime obligation of any
elected official.

2.) EDUCATION: I will personally grade homework sampled at random from
City Schools, on a regular basis. I will occasionally assign homework.
I will see to it that copies of State, Municipal and Federal laws are
in every High School at least, and that those laws that are most often
violated are part of regular curriculum. (The overwhelming majority of
cases in Seattle Municipal court are vehicular infractions, jay-walking
and other "civility" infractions, minor drug offenses, and driving
while a license is under administrative suspension. (Not reckless
driving, or DUI suspension.) These data can of course be viewed from my
website.) The motor vehicle code and the criminal code are not
excessively large bodies of law to read. High school students can
manage it in their school time.

3.) TRANSPORTATION: Punishing people and stealing their property is not
the solution to any problem. The city government as it stands seems to
believe that depriving citizens of their very lives is the only way to
make a municipality work. It is not so. Facilitating Citizens'
existence is their obligation. I have already spoken to numerous
people involved in our city transportation scheme, from Metro officials
to taxi drivers. There is a consensus that even includes some of the
other candidates. The regional transportation problems are going to
take more than four years to solve. Interim solutions that involve more
available parking outside congested areas, shuttles, better routing and
signage, need to be implemented today. More use of our waterways needs 
to be looked at, since a circle of 30 miles radius around Seattle is 
mostly water. Building roadways across them is not realistic, and many 
office buildings, and other work locations are within walking distance 
of a local body of water. Accountability on Sound Transit is important 
for their stunningly gross mismanagement, but what's more important is
getting people from place to place today. Accountability will come
after our local transport issues are solved with cooperative, and
private-commercial efforts. The best reason for this is that it will
make an even stronger case as to just how bad a job that Sound Transit
has done. If you vote for Mark Sidran, he'll waste even more of your
time going after them while you sit in traffic and wait. There is no
need to wait for government to get you to work everyday. If you work in
a large office building, or for a large employer, please call your
local taxi or shuttle company, and see if you can arrange a route. I am
sure that the private livery companies would be eager for the work.


4.) WORK TODAY, CASH TODAY. Any Citizen willing to show up clean and
sober is entitled to city funds to clean, repair, and maintain civic
facilities. This is an excellent way to provide work and ready funds to
those who do not have a stable residence, or are having trouble making
it in this city. There will be no bureaucratic overhead involved, and
work will proceed 3 shifts per day. Funds will be paid in cash, daily.
Wages will be $6.00 to $10.00 per hour. I will deal with any Federal or
State tax issues. There are funds in the City Budget for such a
program. Just for the sake of the math, I'll mention that the State
Auditor's office  notified the City of Seattle that $12 million Dollars
 was unaccounted for in the Seattle City Employees Retirement Service,
two years in a row. Twelve million Dollars will pay a crew of 1,000
people six Dollars an hour for a year. The Seattle Police Department
spends that much in about one month.


5.) DRIVING, RIGHT VS. PRIVILEGE: Anyone who tells you that driving is
not a Right, because it is a privilege, is either misinformed or lying.
A privilege is a special type of Right granted to a particular class of
people. In this case the class is those who prove to the rest of us
that they can operate a vehicle competently by taking a test. By
Constitutional Law, once obtained, the only interference to that Right
can come from a person causing a clear and present danger. Reckless
driving, and DUI are not competent operation of a vehicle. Minor
mistakes, matters not related to safety, or a person not paying a
ticket in time that was wrong or excessive to begin with, are not cause
to destroy a Citizen's life, interfere with their Right to engage in
commerce, and travel, and waste their time with court or other
obligations. In this State, many Citizens have their licenses suspended
for matters not related to driving hazardously. People go to jail every
day in this State, for up to 90 days for continuing to drive when their
license was suspended for not paying a fine in time, or some other
obligation.  Last year, the municipal and district courts in this state
processed 2,070,660 case filings. Of these, 720,046 were parking
infractions, 846,835 were traffic infractions, and 124,256 were non DUI
traffic misdemeanors, of which the majority were driving while license
under administrative suspension. (Lowest degree.) The vehicle
legislation and enforcement system is supposed to be for safety. As it
is being carried out however, it amounts to no more than a gigantic
waste of Citizens' lives. It is a ripoff of epic grandeur.


6.) TAXES AND THE BUDGET: The total resources in the Seattle Budget
are: $2,415,275,000. Taxes contribute $637,937,000. A breakdown of
these numbers is on my website. Please have a look. The bottom line is
that both Citizens and Businesses are taxed too heavily. Having looked
at the budget, I cannot promise a reduction at this time. I DO HOWEVER
PROMISE A FREEZE! Our budget is large enough, and I firmly believe that
Citizens have no more money to give up, nor should they have to. I
think that Seattle Citizens' and Businesses' tax burdens are currently
as large as they ever should be. Re-arranging the budget to give us
more value for that Money is mandatory.


7.) THE CIVIL SERVICE: Our Civil Service is just over 10,000 employees.
The population of Seattle is around 560,000. I do not think this is
necessarily disproportionate. I shall however impose a private-sector
work ethic on the Civil Service. I have heard too many complaints about
poor performance, not to mention what can only be called a
"municipal-troll screw you attitude." I have experienced my share of
these as well. I will make sure that Civil Servants provide the Clients
and Shareholders of The Municipal Corporation of Seattle with the same
type of customer service as any other well-run business. I am in favor
of term limits on Civil Service positions. I propose 13 years. A
municipal post can be an opportunity to get an education, learn a
trade, or put some money away, but not a lifelong meal ticket. Those
jobs can be well paying, and good opportunities, but those benefits
belong to everyone. All 51 civil service contracts expire this year.
The City Council negotiates these contracts, but the Mayor can
contribute to this process. Please do not leave this critical matter to
career-politicians.


Thank You.
Mr. Bugoni.
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