IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

When Angelenos vote Nov. 5, they'll be asked to decide whether or not to let the San Fernando Valley secede from the rest of Los Angeles. Secession would split L.A. in two, creating a new city of approximately 1.3 million people, with an annual budget over $1 billion. Internet consultant Marc Strassman, 54, wants to be mayor of that new city.

Strassman, president of research and consulting company Etopia, has been an evangelist of e-government for 26 years. He believes that putting government online will vastly increase the quality of life in the Valley and serve as an example for other municipalities.

He's so convinced of the power of the Internet that he's basing his entire campaign around his website, Strassman for Mayor. He has no staff or headquarters, and runs his entire campaign from a laptop in his apartment.

He doesn't "press the flesh" with prospective voters. He estimates he's spoken face to face with fewer than 250 of the region's 3 million registered voters.

An Oct. 16 Los Angeles Times poll shows that support for Strassman has stabilized across all political and geographic boundaries at 1 percent. Seven other mayoral candidates currently outpoll him.

But it may be all for naught, as the secessionist movement is not expected to win.

One explanation for Strassman's ranking might be his campaign platform, which he acknowledges is not what voters have come to expect from politicians:

• Provide universal access to Internet broadband connectivity.
• Provide universal access to stationary and/or mobile computing devices.
• Use the Universal Access Network to provide comprehensive e-government services to all residents.
• Use the e-government system to upgrade or replace bureaucrats.
• Eliminate the digital divide to open up e-learning, e-commerce, e-medicine and other digital resources to all residents.

He encourages photovoltaics, online voting, open-source architecture, Linux and electric cars. He plans to earn municipal revenue by having Valley City provide e-government services to other communities. There's no mention of taxes, crime, education, real estate values or the economy.

Does a man running an all-Internet campaign stand a chance of winning?

"Not in this decade," according to Jeff Adler, a political consultant in Southern California. "When you prioritize (your campaign tools), the Internet is way down the list. It's down there with lawn signs."

But Strassman sees the Internet and e-government as the most efficient solution to the Valley's problems.

In an e-mail interview, Strassman offered his Internet-based solution to the Valley's traffic congestion: "Would allowing, encouraging, subsidizing and facilitating the avoidance of trips over the hill to sit in cubicles or spacious corner offices or open plan rooms to work all day by phone and computer by having workers sit at home and work all day by phone and computer cut down on the number of trips burdening the strained road system? Is Linux an operating system?"

Strassman says he's pretty much indifferent to accusations of geekhood. He still believes, in what he admits might be a retro way, that the Internet is a force for the empowerment of the individual, thus his campaign and its emphasis on open-source software and broadband. "I want (people) to have an opportunity to participate in their own transformation. Through technology."

If the vote for secession is successful, Valley City will come into existence on July 1, 2003, with the inauguration of its mayor and city council. The new mayor will have 120 days to get the city's services up and running before Los Angeles formally withdraws from the area.

Quelle: Wired News