Interview with Calabasas Mayor, Part II

Calabasas365.com recently caught up with Calabasas Mayor Barry Groveman. To see the first part of the interview, click here.

You mentioned Constitutional issues previously. What is your opinion of the Tea Party Movement?

Well I really don’t have an opinion on that. I’m not sure they even are a party.

That’s their name. They are not a formal party but they are a movement. What is your opinion about their basic positions?

Well I’m still not sure they are a party. I really haven’t followed too much of that. I haven’t seen a single message since there are a lot of different groups. I don’t know the details of the party position there.

But you’ve been active in politics for decades and seem like someone who stays current with what’s going on in politics, surely you have an impulse about either the Tea Party itself or the basic positions it espouses.

I don’t have an impulse. I do think we need more parties. I think having more parties in our democracy would be healthy. I think having two parties has really led to gridlock on a lot of issues. Voters will become wedded to one party or another sometimes instead of examining each issue for the best solution. People do things to support the parties without fully understanding what they’re doing.

So voters are not making informed decisions?

The politicians aren’t always helpful. They’ll support the party blindly instead of exercising discretion to focus on issues. It’s really a holistic issue with two-party gridlock. Frankly, I think people are tired of it. I know I am. I know we’d all like to see commonsense solutions, people sitting down, and dispassionately coming to solutions that produce the greatest public good.

What new parties would you like to see?

It’s more that I would like to see more viewpoints, more messages, rather than just two viewpoints or two messages. So certainly of a focus on environmental issues, quality of life issues, lifestyle issues, and fiscal problems.

What would like to see as solutions to those problems?

I think there is a lot that can be done. There really is a lot of waste. I mean I was in the DAs [Los Angeles County District Attorney] office for years, and I can tell you that there has been a lot of waste at a lot of levels for a very long time. Really a focus on this type of stuff would yield tremendous savings. There’s a lot of stuff that can be cut, that can be done more efficiently, that could save a lot of money.

What would you support cutting?

I don’t control over a lot of these issues in other places or other cities.

That’s why I used the word “support.” If you could wave a magic wand and cut or change one major fiscal thing, what would it be?

Well I don’t know. There are a lot of issues. There are federal issues, California issues, local issues.

At the state level.

I would like to see a complete reform of the tax code. There are a lot of inefficiencies, a lot of loopholes, a lot of things that confuse the average citizen but don’t produce anything worthwhile.

But is there one thing you would change?

Well there are a lot of things I would like to see changed. It’s important to go about doing that in the right way. The pension systems and healthcare are very expensive. There are a lot of expensive things that could be improved.

Do you feel that the current level of taxation is fair, or would you support amending it upwards or downwards?

I like to keep things as low as possible, generally speaking. In general I believe in smaller things. Big equals waste because people are watching it less. That’s one of the advantages of a small city. You know, people can call me at home. They do all the time.

May I have it? Your home phone number?

What was that?

May I have your home phone number?

It’s…. Most of my numbers are on the site. The number I use all the time, it’s not my home number. It’s the number you have.

The one number on your site goes to your assistant at your law office.

Right. You know people call me at home. Some people have my home phone number. I don’t rush to give it out. But I got a call the other night on a sewage [issue] at 11 o’clock at night. I have people calling me at home on garbage issues. You know they are leaving town and are troubled that by leaving their cans out they’re going to get fined and they’re angry with that. I take their calls. In one case I offered to go move the guy’s cans in while they’re on vacation. My point is that we’re available all of us. I think that’s why we’re relatively well received here. People are happy with the Calabasas government from what I can see.

So all these people have your phone number can and do call you at home. You’ve just said that you’re very proud that you’re available at home. But I can’t have this information?

The best number for me is the one you have.

Part III of the interview will be posted next week.