Candidate for
Mayor; City of Los Angeles

My political philosophy is well-suited to the non-partisan nature of the Los Angeles Mayor's race, where partisan endorsements may be made but are not permitted on the ballot itself. That is principally because I am guided in my political beliefs by the warning of President George Washington in his famous Farewell Address in 1789. In that speech to Congress, Washington warned his fellow Americans never to let political parties dominate our national public life, because they would inevitably polarize everything.

I am also informed by a strong social conscience that has lead me to forego the normal lifelong quest for high-paying jobs and to instead concentrate on work in which I can perform a public service, such as journalism. While my income has been low throughout my life for that reason, I have had the freedom to travel, to write about important and complex issues, and to lead my neighbors towards a better future for our community. That has been an acceptable trade-off, and unlike the highly-paid public servants who oppose me in this campaign, I am not only a low-income person but also one who is determined to bring down the cost of government through the application of the same common sense that has helped my online newspaper survive in the rapidly-changing, highly competitive world of the Internet.

Lyndon Johnson said he was an American, a Baptist and a Democrat in that order. I am an American first, last and always; my political and religious ideology are not central to my life, even though the practice of my religion and the exercise of my political beliefs is of overwhelming importance to me. Ideology is divisive, while my commitment to solving a particular set of partly political problems that demand resolution is constructive and inclusive. I find both major parties far from ideal, and while I am a registered Democrat, strong Republican traditions run in my family and personal background that influence me still. What is essential to me is that problems with a political component get solved, and that people are well-served by the solutions. So even though as an editor I supported Mr. Gore in his long fight for the presidency, I was extremely critical of the role of President Clinton in accepting campaign contributions that originated with a Chinese general. I was the first to learn about those contributions from China, which were disguised as gifts from a real estate company in my neighborhood, and immediately took steps to expose them.

I am personally opposed to abortion, yet I accept and I would encourage enforcement of the laws regarding it. I may have private reservations about gay marriages, but I would permit them to be performed if state law also does. But I would not favor "gay rights" legislation because I do not believe such laws maintain the standard of equality that is the backbone of our political system. At the same time, to extend this argument, I would very strongly condemn any discrimination against any person based on their gender preference. Yet I would also permit the Boy Scouts to use public facilities and accept their right to associate with whomever they choose as upheld in a U.S. Supreme Court decision. I do not believe in the use of foul language in public or on the public airwaves, and especially not in range of young minds, yet I fought a government effort to censor the Internet all the way to the Supreme Court -- and won. I have never owned a firearm (excluding BB guns as a kid), yet I value all of the Bill of Rights and would not permit the Second Amendment to be abrogated in my term of office. I am morally opposed to the death penalty, yet I believe it is the right of the courts to determine what is and is not "cruel and unusual punishment." I am certainly a proponent of private property rights, yet I believe that slumlords who fail to maintain their properties ought to lose them to tenants who can gain sweat equity by rehabilitating them. I am a foe of the monopoly franchises that giant cable firms enjoy in Los Angeles, yet I oppose so-called "open access" to cable lines by competitors as a forced taking of proprietary technology. I find the idea of toilet-to-tap water reclamation distasteful, yet I recognize the pressing need for water reclamation as a source of supply. I am philosophically opposed to grantying monopolies, yet I am not opposed to municipally-owned utilities such as the Dept. of Water & Power, and I would encourage state officials to seize or buy our ailing private utilities to ensure a steady supply of power for our growing cities and state.

My political philosophy, therefore, is practical and problem-oriented, not theoretical. When you scratch off the surface, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but an independent person who believes my job is to solve the public-interest problems of the people who elected me. As the LAPD said in a press release <http://www.lapdonline.org/press_releases/2001/03/pr01141.htm> on March 20, I am a person with a "commitment to leadership." The Department's statement notes, too, that I have been publicly critical of its decisions on several issues. Mine is an independent and proud American spirit that values truth and integrity far more highly than political philosophies.