NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton has promised to cut the budget for the mayor and city councillors attending international meetings and require politicians to disclose their lunch dates.
In her first campaign speech since the current councillor announced her candidacy in May, Anton said Tuesday the measures will be part of a so-called accountability accord she will introduce at city hall, if she is elected mayor in November.
Vision and their COPE pals have been racking up the air miles at an alarming rate, visiting every continent except Antarctica, all the while taxes have been going up, said Anton, although she didnt provide specifics on the trips or how she will cut spending. This will not happen under our NPA administration.
Anton also promised to freeze the mayors office budget for three years, lift the media gag order on city staffers and have politicians disclose the names of people whom they dined with while on the job.
If youre having lunch on public expense, your name will be out there, she said from the NPAs campaign office near the Granville Street SkyTrain entrance.
The promises fit in with Antons support of the provincial governments proposal to establish an auditor general for B.C. municipalities. The mayor and council file bills for various expenses, including meals, events, training and travel and are offered a vehicle allowance. That information is available to the public, although detailed expenses of a lunch date are not.
Mayor Gregor Robertson has travelled widely since he was elected mayor in 2008, visiting China, Greece, London, Toronto, San Francisco and New York City on city business.
Robertsons training and travel expenses for 2010 totalled $12,025, according to a city financial report released in April. Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie, who joined the mayor in China during a trade mission trip, spent $13,069. Anton, who is the NPAs lone city councillor, spent $3,122 on training and travel, including trips to Toronto and Harrison Hot Springs, according to the document.
When Anton was a member of then-mayor Sam Sullivans administration, which ruled city hall from 2005 and 2008, she travelled to China on city business, had a paid dinner in Hong Kong with the head of Concord Pacific Developments and attended a Bruce Springsteen concert at Rogers Arena in the same developers private box.
As the Courier reported in 2008, Anton and several councillors of the previous administration, including members of Vision and COPE, took freebies from Concord to attend concerts, hockey games, the Cirque du Soleil and private dinners aboard a yacht to watch fireworks in English Bay.
Concord donated to Vision, the NPA and COPE and is expected to do the same in this years campaign, although COPE has said it will refuse money from developers. Seven of the 10 councillors didnt disclose the information in 2008 to the city clerks office until the Courier requested to view the citys so-called gift disclosure documents. The mayor and council are required under the citys Charter to disclose any gifts or personal benefits exceeding $50.
That includes cash, gift cards, tickets to events, clothing, jewelry, pens, food or beverages, discounts on personal purchases, free or subsidized drinks or meals, entertainment and invitations to social functions organized by groups or community organizations.
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