Democratic challengers running for Onondaga County Legislature say they want voters to have more access to government transparency and public input. The four fresh candidates in front of the County Courthouse in Syracuse unveiled a 5 point plan. Tim Rudd is challenging 15th District Legislator and Legislature Chair Ryan McMahon. The group is calling for automatic public notices when a candidate’s financial disclosure forms are filed and higher amounts required in print.
“The disclosure stops at $50,000... we don’t think that is a high enough tier. The third is to remove a 5 mile limit rule that says elected officials have to disclose the properties they hold within Onondaga County and five miles outside. But, you could have property 5.1 miles or in Bermuda or anywhere... the 5 miles is pretty arbitrary.”
The Democrats say they would also like County Legislators to acknowledge if their campaigns receive money from organizations or individuals who perform contracted work for the county. On another transparency note, Rudd feels the minutes of County Legislature Committee meetings published on-line is scratching the surface.
“Other counties have done the video recording (of County Legislature meetings) and I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think it would be expensive and I think it would make it much more accessible and other people could check in whenever they wanted to.”
In Cicero-North Syracuse District 14, Candidate Kevin Tees is giving county government a poor rating for openness.
“People go behind closed doors and dictate to the community, policy. And that is not how government should work. Government should be representative of the people who vote for you. It’s a public service.”
Tees adds that if he’s elected, he plans to hold four open meetings, annually in his district. He is challenging Casey Jordan (R). The other two candidates are LoreneDadey from East Syracuse who is challenging Republican Legislator Danny Liedka in the 7th District, and Susan Scheuerman from Skaneateles is challenging Legislator Mike Plochocki (R) in the 6th District. Dadey also challenged Liedka in the last election.
