Neighbors for Jason Overman | Berkeley City Council, District 8

We need open, transparent government that works for its people and is responsive to the issues of the community.

The incumbent opposed allowing the voters to decide for themselves whether or not they want to get money out of the political process—in June, he voted against clean money.

I believe we’ve got to get money out of politics. We need clean money and we need it now.

During his term, my opponent has also led the fight against instant run-off voting, proposing instead a plan that would require voters to rank all candidates in a race in order for their votes to even count—which means I’d have to rank George W. Bush as one of my choices for President or my vote will be thrown out. He opposed the plan for instant run-off voting, which was approved by 72% of Berkeley voters, that would allow voters to choose which candidates to vote for and which ones to omit.

And in 2005, the incumbent voted for the secret, backroom settlement deal with UC administrators—a deal that kept us all in the dark about how our community is developed.

We won’t stand for a representative that shuts us out of the process, making deals when nobody’s looking. Since I was elected, I’ve fought to increase transparency.

I’ll be the kind of councilmember who will let you in and ask what you think. Whether we agree or not, you’ll always know where I stand. As soon as you elect me, I’ll start holding monthly town hall meetings—so I always know how you feel; and I’ll put out a monthly newsletter—so you always know what I’m working on.

I support electoral reforms like clean money and instant run-off voting; unlike my opponent, I won’t vote against them just because they make me vulnerable.