January 05, 2004
Robert Hinds Announces Mayoral Bid On Platform Of 'Total Quality Management' For City Hall
This is somewhat confusing, as he officially-filed back on November 3, 2003. But in a press release via email late Sunday night, Robert Hinds announced his candidacy for Mayor.
A Senior Internal Auditor and Market Research Analyst for Freightliner Corporation, Hinds frames his campaign around bringing Total Quality Management to the government of Portland, which the release describes as "documenting all of the processes within Portland's government, identifying and eliminating waste, and establishing benchmarks for performance."
"I'm bothered that all the other candidates in the race seem to be advocating more bureaucracy as the means to our problems," says Hinds in the release. "I'm sure there are millions to be saved through improved efficiencies in government. That means less taxes and more money to spend where it's really needed."
"I am running because I love Portland, I love Oregon, and I love America," proclaimed Hinds. "I am also running because I don?t think Portland's problems can be solved by career politicians and lawyers. If you read the campaign platforms of my opponents, each agenda points to financial and operational problems at the heart of what ails Portland, yet none of them have much education or experience to prepare for those challenges. Vera Katz was a great master of ceremonies, but the job of being Mayor is more than ceremonial, it requires a great breadth of skills which I feel I embody more than anybody else in the race. Furthermore, it requires a moral altitude that lifts one above the atmosphere of political influence and gives them the ability to make equitable decisions on behalf of the electorate. I offer the Citizens of Portland exactly that."
Hinds argues that this TQM-based foundation will be able to more successfully respond to the root causes many of Portland's biggest issues, citing support for education, boosting employment, and reducing crime as examples.
"I know the people of Portland are tired of the same old song and dance down at City Hall," the release quotes Hinds as saying, "and I know the average, middle-class citizen is tired of the elitist attitude that permeates Portland's government."
Hinds' announcement also moves to counter-balance his professed fiscal discipline by arguing his progressive stands on social issues such as gay rights and free speech. Arguably, this combination of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism would place him more or less in the quadrant of the political map occupied by the Libertarian Party.
Whether or not it also means he happens to share the unrealistic moral flaws exhibited by most Libertarians when it comes to the social contract remains to be seen.
That last editorial remark is brought to you by my deep and abiding difficulties with the Libertarian Party. It should not indicate that Hinds is, or is not, a member of the Libertarian Party, since I do not happen to know that particular piece of information.
Hinds is part of a field of officially-filed candidates which currently stands at twelve.
Comments (1)
Robert Hinds on 07 Jan 2004
My regards to the editor of the Portland Communique for the coverage of my press release. I would like to clarify two points, however, for the benefit of the readers.
First, I have not formally announed my campaign until this time simply because I'm doing all the work myself and running on $2000, so needed time to put together the campaign strategy, website, etc. I'd like to point out also, that Jim Francesconi has been aggressively campaigning since September last year (often when I feel he should be tending to his duties as commissioner), but has yet to file by fee or petition for the race. Not a very good sign of Jim's attention to detail and protocol.
Second, I am not a Libertarian, though I do respect the opinions of the Libertarian Party. By fiscal conservatism, I mean that during lean economic times, the Govt should support all expenditures through objective and favorable financial analysis. To the extent that qualitative values are given to those decisions, those values should be weighted through the democratic process itself and not based on special interests.