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Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Strong Mayor, Weak Ethics?
by William Burg, published on January 12, 2009 at 2:39PM
Storyline: Sacramento Politics
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Lately, many people who signed up to be on the "Sacramentans for Obama" email lists have received emails inviting them to come to events and sign petitions in favor of Sacramento's "Strong Mayor" petition. Kim Mack, one of the principal organizers of the "Strong Mayor" petition, is also involved with "Sacramentans for Obama." The directors of "Sacramentans for Obama" were apparently unaware of this misuse of their mailing list, and are investigating the matter. If Mack made unauthorized use of the "Sacramentans for Obama" mailing list to promote this Kevin Johnson-backed initiative, what other liberties will the parties pushing the "Strong Mayor" initiative take with personal information gathered for an entirely separate cause?
In an age when email use is commonplace but many of us find ourselves deluged by unwanted spam, people do sign up to receive information about political or social causes that concern them. Using an email list gathered for one purpose to promote an unrelated cause is considered, at the very least, a breach of etiquette, and definitely a breach of trust. Perhaps the organizers simply assume that everyone who signed up for "Sacramentans for Obama" is a Kevin Johnson supporter, or that people simply could not tell the difference between Barack Obama and Kevin Johnson, but in either case this sort of misuse of an email list is inappropriate.
Even more troubling is that a December 15 event, billed as a Sacramentans for Obama event, turned out to be an announcement and recruiting event for the "Strong Mayor" initiative drive. Will this misuse of an email list be followed by attemts to manipulate people who supported Obama for president, but did not support Kevin Johnson for Mayor, or the "Strong Mayor" initiative?
Cities like Sacramento revised their charters in the early 20th century in order to avoid the historic corruption of city "machine" politics. Mayors elected by powerful political "bosses" handed out government contracts and jobs as favors to the men who elected them, not on the basis of fairness, fiscal prudence or ethics. The council-manager system was introduced to professionalize city government and restore public trust in city officials. If the backers of the "Strong Mayor" initiative wish to prove that Mayor Johnson is worthy of much greater power, and the trust of the public, antics like misuse of the "Sacramentans for Obama" mailing list, and deceptive public events for Obama supporters, sets a very poor example.
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I attempted to complain about it on the Obama website, but their contact page now pushes to change.gov. I went so far as to try to change my privacy settings on that website, but couldn't find the option.
The privacy policy itself only mentions third parties in reference to pixel tags (for tracking use/receipt of web pages and emails). "These files enable us or these third parties to recognize a unique cookie on your Web browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our website and to deliver advertising targeted to your interests. The information that is collected and shared using these pixel tags and similar technology is anonymous and not personally identifiable."
"We configure our list server software to refuse to divulge the email addresses of our list subscribers to anyone other than those whom we authorize."
Evidently they authorized Kim Mack to use my email address...
Questionable.
If this has happened to you and you want your name taken off the petition, put it in writing and send it to the city clerk ASAP.
Address:
915 I st.
95814
Why would people who never signed up for your email be getting the emails?
Full text of the original email:
Dear ---,
In November, you voted for change -- in our city and in our nation.
Now the work begins -- right here in Sacramento -- to change our community into the world-class city it can be.
Mark your calendar and join us on Monday, January 5th at 6:00 p.m. at the Grand (1215 J Street, downtown Sacramento, across from the Sheraton), when our new grassroots organization, Sacramentans for Accountable Government, will hold its first meeting.
Mayor Kevin Johnson will be there. So please join us and be a part of our effort to bring a more responsive and accountable government to Sacramento.
See you on Monday!
Sincerely,
Kim Mack & your friends at Sacramentans for Accountable Government
P.S. -- Check out our new website, www.reformsacramento.com
Click here to RSVP
Click here to invite a friend
This message was intended for: ---
You were added to the system January 2, 2009. For more information
click here.
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Nor has anyone accused "Sacramento for Obama" of releasing their mailing list. You're answering a question that hasn't been asked, Kim. The question is this:
Where did "Sacramentans for Accountable Government" get its email list? Why did people who had signed up for the "Sacramentans for Obama" email list start receiving unsolicited email from SAG? If "Sacramentans for Obama" didn't willingly give out their email list, who stole the email list from them?
For a group calling for more accountability, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of accountability among the persons pushing the initiative. Who is bankrolling this initiative? How can they afford to pay so many signature gatherers so well? And why was there no public discussion of charter change before this initiative was rolled out, ready-packaged?