Primary Election Date: 03/13/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

My name is Christian Smith and I am currently 25 years old. I have a Masters in Public Administration and a B.S. in Education. I am originally from Huntsville, AL, and attended Virgil I. Grissom High School. I played soccer and ran track in high school. My parents raised me to always be involved in politics and to be a leader. I moved to Mobile in 2005 to attend the University of South Alabama. I received both my undergraduate and my graduate degree from South Alabama. I became a leader on the campus through organizations such as Student Government Association, Alpha Gamma Delta, and Amnesty International to name a few. It was not until 2010 that I finally broke into politics in Mobile County and I have loved every minute of local politics since then.

Why Am I Running?

I am running because I think the citizens of Mobile County deserve to know where their tax money is going. I want to open the office to all citizens. It is near impossible to see the specific investments and expenditures for the office. It is my goal to open the office and make the budget where the everyday citizen can understand it. I've studied public budgets and still have problems understanding completely where the money is going in this county. I want to run to change the office and to be accountable to the people because we deserve better government.

I am also running for my generation. I know many people believe those in their 20s are lazy and apathetic, it is my aim to disprove this myth. I am getting webwork, photographs, signs/cards all made by those that are in my age range to prove that we are the future and that we are capable of so much more than we are given credit for.

Hold Me Accountable!

My first goal is to give the office of treasurer its own website, currently you have to go to 3 different webpages to even begin to try and get to the Office of Treasurer. At that point the website is not for the treasurer it's finance and budget and it is incomprehensible. I want to make it easy to follow and read.

My second goal is to make all records, that are for the public, actually public. I will not restrict the citizens or make it difficult for them to obtain the information. To obtain the information currently is almost like pulling teeth they are reluctant to release the information of where the citizens money is going.

My DFA values:

I believe my campaign represents community and security the most. I am involving the community in my campaign by going into the communities and involving whoever wants to help on the campaign and in whatever capacity they are able to help in. I also believe that my campaign represents security and liberty by my campaign promise to make the office and its operations more accessible to the public. By making the office more accessible I would be giving citizens their liberty to hold their elected officials accountable as well as the security of the citizens knowing where their money is going. I feel my campaign embodies the ideals of DFA because it will engage the citizens to hold their elected officials accountable and to participate in the process.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

My campaign is people powered for a number of reasons. I have no paid staff.

One of the reasons I am running is I want to allow people my age to become involved in the political process. It is very hard to get involved in local politics if you are not older, it took me 5 years before I was able to get on a campaign here. I want to engage those my age as well as those that are younger that may not be able to vote. I think the younger we engage young adults the more likely they are to participate in the political process and to remain engaged. It is very difficult in the political climate I am in to engage younger people and to keep them active.

I am also working with different community organizations, given that I have almost no money to run my campaign. I am depending on members of the community to encourage others to participate and to vote. I have no allegiance to a corporation, I cannot and will not be bought. I am running for the people because I think we deserve better I am tired of seeing the same people running for office. I am not a politician. I had never wanted to run for office, but I felt that I needed to because no one else in this county is going to stick up for the common person. I am not a lawyer or an executive or a boss. I am regular person working a 40-60 hour a week job to make ends meet and I just think we deserve better in this county.