Now up until the election cycle, Mark Kirk will be writing blogs for RCSB and for Sharon's Blog.  Many of our readers are familiar with the fact that Mark is the Chief of Staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt and is a candidate for Hesperia City Council.  

Please note this offer is available to all candidates within San Bernardino County.  As Editor, I feel it is my duty to help keep my readers informed on the local issues and candidates to the fullest extent possible.  That said, I think the fact that candidates take the time to sit down and write such editorials and reach out to the online crowd speaks for itself. 

Below is an editorial he sent me tonight entitled, "Transparency":

Transparency - Mark Kirk

As the 2008 local election cycle starts to heat up, voters need to start doing their homework about which candidates they plan to support. November 4^th will be here before anyone knows it. Taking a few minutes now to research candidates will pay off dividends down the road.

As I hear issues or questions from voters, I plan to write posts trying to answer those questions or direct voters where they can find that information. You're about to be pummeled with all kinds of information, some of it complete nonsense, you need to be prepared.

The first issue I'd like to comment on is campaign contributions. People are often confused about who is giving to whom and what that exactly means. Where that information can be found, and how best to investigate claims being made.

Two forms that help to answer such issues are the Form 460, detailing candidate committees' expenditures and revenues, and the Form 700, detailing investment interests of the candidate/official. Using these two forms one can determine if personal financial interests motivate an individual's decision making or if others with financial interests are supporting a particular candidate's campaign.

Both forms are public documents are can be obtained by a quick visit to City Hall or the Registrar of Voters office. In Hesperia, Vicki Soderquist is the City Clerk and the steward of all such documents. Vicki is an extremely nice person and always willing to help.

However, many times people are intimidated by city staff or just simply do not have the time to swing by the office and obtain such documents. This is why I'm an advocate for online posting of financial information.

Recently the County of San Bernardino placed these documents for all of it's officials online, and the result has been overwhelming. The year before they were placed online, just under 300 people visited the county clerk's office, requesting this information. The year it was placed online, that number grew to over one million.

In this election, like most elections, you're going to hear a lot of comments about how much money different candidates have raised and who their supporters are. This is an age-old tactic that candidates and their supporters use to debase others. It is even more commonly used when detractors have nothing else to defame a candidate on.

Knowing this would be a common theme used in the elections in Hesperia, I am sending out a challenge to my opponents, as well as all sitting elected officials in Hesperia. Post all of your financial and conflict of information on the internet. This can be done through individual websites, like what I've done at www.mk4council.com, or through municipal websites such as a city's or district's site.

In this election every voter deserves to have this financial information at their fingertips. Every candidate running for Hesperia City Council should take the time, honor the voters, and place their Form 460 and 700 online. The public deserves access to this information online. The public deserves full transparency.