Ethical and Effective Government
DC government already has the resources we need to deliver better services and improve the lives of people here. Right now, however, money is too often siphoned off by deep-pocketed and well-connected insiders through wasteful contracts, public land giveaways, and excessive corporate subsidies. Just last month, the Washington Post revealed that Mayor Bowser overpaid a big donor millions of dollars for an affordable housing development, and Washington City Paper uncovered that the District forfeited $35 million in federal funds to bail out a well-connected developer. Public funds that we set aside to help our neighbors are instead being used to make the rich richer.
At the same time, basic services don’t work the way we need them to. Emergency calls to 911 go unanswered or directed to the wrong location. Restrictions on applications to rental assistance means families wait out in the cold for hours. Traffic safety infrastructure is scrapped at the behest of big donors. Nonsensical regulations cause businesses to scale back or shutter. Critical government leadership roles are filled based on loyalty rather than competence. Multimillion-dollar contracts are renewed year after year with little oversight and no track record of success. And major problems go unsolved because they are met with a patchwork of duplicative, uncoordinated programs.
As Mayor, I’ll champion an ethical, transparent, and responsive government that is accountable for every taxpayer dollar and delivers effective public services for all DC residents.