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The bottom line is, I hear my donors, I hear our base out there, I hear the leadership. And we're taking steps to make sure that we're even more - how shall we say it - fiscally conservative in our spending and certainly making sure the dollars are there when it's time to run our campaigns.

Politicians like to talk about incentives - for businesses to relocate, for example, or to get folks to buy local.

I am not about to let the people who so mismanaged the state budget now try to manage local government.

And if we make the process political, if we start to make it personal, we're actually going to frustrate good public policy, in terms of managing this money.

We must invest in and empower our state and local parties by creating effective field operations, an enhanced and advanced voter file, and a culture of collaboration between candidates at every level. Let's put the voters first.

We also need a fund that can say 'no'.

The bottom line is that we have entered an age when local communities need to invest in themselves. Federal and state dollars are becoming more and more scarce for American cities. Political and civic leaders in local communities need to make a compelling case for this investment.

I'm interested in full disclosure for people who give money to politicians. But I'm not a politician. I'm an advocate.

The government can access these funds but only following approval by the parliament to support our budget requirements and investments in infrastructure development, education, public health, and so on.