Experience on Goleta City Council
I have been on the city council for 8 years. My experience on council allows me to understand the important issues affecting the city and to provide leadership in resolving the challenges.
I sit on the following City committees:
- Finance and Audit Standing Committee
- Fire Station Development Ad Hoc Committee
- Goleta Beach Park Standing Committee
- Homelessness Issues Standing Committee
- Human Services Standing Committee
- Naming Standing Committee
- Ordinance Review Standing Committee
- Revenue Neutrality Ad Hoc Agreement Committee
- Watersheds and Waste Reduction Standing Committee
- Town and Gown Standing Committee
I also serve as the City’s representative to the following organizations:
- Foundation for Girsh Park
- Regional Integrated Waste Management Reporting Authority
- South Coast Affordable Housing Task Force
Look for the Accomplishments page to see what I have helped achieve for the city.
Fiscal watchdog and effective governance
To hold government accountable, you have to understand government. I have an in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of government, both from my tenure at the White House Office of Management and Budget, working for both Democrats and Republicans, and as an academic and researcher.
I have experience in overseeing government programs and in protecting budgets as a fiscal watchdog. We don’t get to an efficient and effective government by just wanting it. If you want financially responsible and effective city government, it is important to have city council members with the skills to make it happen.
- Professor – George Washington University and Santa Barbara City College teaching political science and public administration
- Office of Management and Budget (White House Budget Office) for 12 years
Problem solver
My experience allows me to recognize the foundations of the problems we face and to design workable solutions to accomplish city goals. To effectively respond to challenges, we must compare and choose among different possible solutions, recognize budget limitations, design performance goals, and monitor progress.
At the Office of Management and Budget, I oversaw agencies in the Department of Agriculture, primarily evaluating agencies’ budget requests and assessing program implementation and administration. This included significant policy analysis. Some of my successes included:
- Enabled the Forest Service to develop new simplified budget structure and performance measures to enhance financial integrity, display financial information more visibly to the public and encourage increased accountability from Forest Service managers.
- Proposed legislation for Forest Service Payments to States receipt decoupling and Trust Fund reform, and helped in negotiating to eliminate harmful environmental appropriation riders.
- Directed the change in the Conservation Reserve Program toward paying market rental rates for retiring cropland for conservation purposes, saving the Federal government over $500 million annually.
- Advanced the development of new land selection system, the Environmental Benefits Index, for the Conservation Reserve Program to identify priority lands to enhance the program’s environmental benefits, with more visibility in the decision-making process
- Participated in analysis and review in development of regulations for Roadless Conservation Policy, Forest Service land management planning, and national forest transportation policy.
- Served as the Administration’s representative to Congressionally charted Forest Counties Payment Committee, which submitted the report to Congress, “Recommendations for Making Payments to States and Counties Report to Congress.”
I have conducted research in new and improved budget and management practices for agency programs and operations. My research has focused on governance questions, including public institutions’ design and management, and governmental budgeting. I am on the editorial board for the American Review of Public Administration
Committed to public service
I was an Eagle Scout and Peace Corps volunteer. In the Peace Corps, I was stationed in Ecuador, in the highlands. I worked as an agricultural extensionist.
- One of my projects was in helping to commercialize a then obscure native pseudo-cereal primarily grown by poorer Indian farmers. It was Quinoa.
- In Peace Corps, I helped prepare a feasibility study for a local savings and loan cooperative. I also was primarily responsible for establishing a handicraft marketing fair in Riobamba, the provincial capital, with help from the Ministry of Tourism and the local Small Business Chamber.
I worked at other organizations, as well:
- At the Freedom from Hunger Foundation, I participated in annual budget and proposal preparation for Agency for International Development grants and conducted preliminary programmatic and financial oversight of country operations.
- At the World Bank, to prepare reports on crops and markets in Sudan, I extensively used project analysis (economic and financial cost-benefit analysis, internal rate of return) and other financial and economic studies.
I am also an Eagle Scout.
I have lived in Goleta for 22 years and feel invested in this community. I love the small-town quality of Goleta. My son goes to Dos Pueblos High School and my wife works at UCSB. My son was born here.