Name: Scott Clifford
Running for: Corvallis City Council Ward 2
Please review your background and describe the leadership qualities and experiences you bring to this office and why you want to serve
Bachelor of Science in New Media Communications, Oregon St. University
Former Students for Barack Obama Campus Coordinator (Oregon St. University) and State Director of Student Media
Currently self-employed as a Social Media Consultant
I have been looked to for leadership my entire life. Starting in elementary school when I was voted to be a peer leader, during my senior year of high school when I was awarded the Altruism award, and most recently when I was in charge of a voter registration campaign which registered 7,500 people to vote. That effort led to Barack Obama winning by the biggest margins in the state in both the Democratic Primary and the Presidential election. Leadership is something that comes naturally to me, and when put in a position of leadership I have always thrived. To be a good leader you need to know how to listen, and not only listen, but be able to determine the best people to listen to. Leadership is not about yourself; it is about the goal that you have been put in charge to reach. It sounds easy to be able to take yourself out of the equation sometimes, but this requires a strong mental fortitude that is not afforded to all people. You also have to be able to communicate effectively with people to be a good leader. If you can’t get simple messages across you’ve already failed. Finally you must be determined not to fail. For some people it is easy to quit when things get hard. To be a good leader it must be impossible to quit until the goal is reached. Listener, Communicator, Determined are all traits of a good leader, and all qualities that I possess.
My favorite quote explains why I want to serve "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. ... Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." –Our 44th President.
The reason I’m running for City Council is because Corvallis is my home, and as much as I love it and think it is great; there has been a real lack of leadership and ideas in city government. With all the issues facing our community, such as a continuing loss of jobs, growing budget deficits, and the gap between the city and the university, it’s time we put people in place that will provide the leadership and ideas needed.
1) These institutions should play a vital role in economic development going forward. It is a goal of mine to create a start-up culture in Corvallis using graduating Oregon St. students. This will take a partnership between the city, university, and organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce. We must also make it easier for people to start a business here in Corvallis by making land use and building codes easier to navigate.
2) I see myself working hand in hand with the business community. I am running under an economic development platform. It’s time that we stop fighting business owners who have already set up shop here. We need to stop making it difficult for people to start businesses. We need to bring everyone to the table to solve this issue, and this will take future councilors who have the ability and want to listen to the business community.
3) To replace that income we must vigorously promote economic development by strengthening the businesses that call Corvallis home, so they can stay here, grow here, hire more people here, and invest more money here. Then by making it easier for businesses to come to Corvallis we will be able to vigorously recruit new companies to Corvallis. These steps plus creating a start-up culture that I mentioned before will hopefully replace the lost income.
4) The biggest problem facing Corvallis is its budget deficit. To resolve it there will be no easy way of getting it done. The reality is, city government must live within its means just like the rest of us do. If we want to approve more spending we need to find the money first. The two most obvious solutions are either cuts in spending or asking the voters to approve higher taxes. Another possible solution is to avoid painful cuts or painful tax increases by everyone sharing the pain. Perhaps something similar to what has been done at OSU and at the State level - small cuts in pay, furlough days, reductions in future benefits growth. But my first priority would be to listen to and talk with the citizens in Ward 2, so we all understand the relative importance of the City’s various services and then act accordingly. We need to look at how we got to this point and the most glaring problem is the reality that Corvallis is business unfriendly, and the past councils have only ever reacted to problems instead of being proactive, if they’ve even acted at all. It’s time we support economic development and the business community that exists here in Corvallis. For the long-term, the best solution is to develop a stronger economic base – helping businesses thrive here to generate more tax revenue here to help pay for the City services needed and wanted here.