Time To Disclose St. Augustine Officials' Property Ownership To Inform Debate on Unwanted ST. AUGUSTINE RED LIGHT DISTRICTS

Time To Disclose St. Augustine Officials' Property Ownership
I've written St. Augustine officials today, asking that they disclose all interests in property by themselves, their families, their loved ones and their clients. It's important that they do so to restore public confidence and government and assure that the proposed St. Augustine Red Light District (which would be established by proposed St. Augustine City Ordinance 2007- 11) is discussed honestly and candidly, with all pertinent facts (including conflict of interest) disclosed on the City's website.
Our local officials are indifferent to tree- killing, wetland- destroying, foreign- funded speculators.
As Lincoln Steffens wrote in The Shame of the Cities, "the spirit of graft and lawlessness is the American spirit."
As Walter Lippman wrote, "an entirely objective view of political life would show that corruption is somewhat endemic."
Citizens are being intimidated while decisions are made on huge land deals without full disclosure.
"The primary goals of organized crime ... are the making of money and the maximization of profit. In order to achieve the greatest possible return, organized crime has found it expedient to invest some of its capital in government," reported a 1976 Presidential advisory committee.
Whatever the background or size of the corrupters, from Lockheed Martin to Bell Helicopter to numbers runners, government records show that the loyalties government officials have been purchased, whether they are bribed with illegal bribes (payoffs) or legal gifts (campaign contributions).
That's why we need transparency, full disclosure and campaign finance reform. Disclosure must be complete so we know the facts. As the late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said, "if we do not, on a national scale, attack organized criminals with weapons and techniques as effective as their own, they will destroy us."
As Donald R. Cressy wrote in Theft of a Nation, "Cosa Nostra functions as an illegal, inviable government.... Its political objective is a negative one: nullification of government."
In St. Augustine, a $15,000 tree-killing fine of ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD was forgiven by our St. Augustine City Commission, without allowing citizens to speak, breaking the rules and breaking their promises (see below).
Globe-girdling companies like EXXON MOBIL or small-town satraps (like speculator ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD) likewise want government to show them favoritism.
Their attitude is as Commodore Vanderbilt said, "let the public be damned."
The whole world is watching them as they seek to establish a Red Light District in the first City in North America were a Roman Catholic Mass was said (1565).