Christian Smith for Mobile County Treasurer

Hi All, Welcome to my fundraising page. My name is Christian Smith and I am running for Mobile County Treasurer. I am running as a Democrat and believe I represent the voice of the people. I am running as treasurer because I want to bring more transparency and better accountability to this office. I believe that I represent the choice of the people and think that I would be able to restore accountability to the position that people would like to see in their government.

Here is my Platform, I hope you will take time to read it as well as go to my facebook page www.facebook.com/christiansmith2012

The treasurer adds a level of accountability and oversight to the budget. Some may argue it is a duplication of services provided by the finance office; however, the finance office is not accountable to the people. They are salaried employees of the county. It is also argued we are one of three counties to still maintain the office of treasurer, but what many don't realize is that the other counties have rolled the treasurer's duties into the Revenue Commissioner's office. This is not the intention of those seeking to eliminate this office. If they have their way, no elected official would be over the budget and there would be far less accountability.
My objectives, if elected are to have the following 4 goals:
1. Provide more transparency
I want to take the budget and break it down for a person who does not have background in budgeting to understand. I want to make it available to whoever wants to see it in a format that can be understood rather than generic categories such as maintenance or building fund. I want people to be able to see how their hard-earned money is working for them and to have concrete examples of it. The treasurer ensures a protective role to citizens of their money by being a gate keeper and making sure the money is spent on what it was allocated for.
2. Make Wiser Investments
With the economy currently how it is we cannot afford to rely on a department that is not accountable to the people to make sure the investments are representing all the citizens of Mobile County. It is my goal to task this duty back to the treasurer's office to benefit all the citizens of Mobile county instead of just certain part of the county. It is our money as citizens and it should benefit all of us and not just some. I want to make sure we maintain our current budget by making wise investments and not losing money by taking riskier ones.
3. Modernize the Office.
To allow the citizens the transparency of the budget on the expenditure and investments site I would like to modernize the office by providing a website directly dedicated to it. Currently it is one of the few offices that does not have its own website, which means if you would like to know any of the financial information about the county you need to go downtown and go through boxes and boxes of papers. Those papers are not broken down for you to really understand where the money is going. I want citizens to have the opportunity to go on the website and know who the treasurer is, what the treasurer does, and where their money is going. By allowing citizens this opportunity they are not only able to question the treasurer but all their local elected officials.
4. Use it as a tool of Citizen Engagement
By allowing citizens the ability to review the budget online, they are able to understand what is going on with their money and are able to ask questions. Too often do citizens feel disconnected with their community or see the point in voting since they feel their voice doesn't matter. By having this information readily available citizens can voice their opinions and hold their elected official accountable.
Mobile needs to move forward, and we cannot move forward if we do not know what is going on in our backyard.
A vote for me is vote for moving Mobile forward.