Bryan BeilkeIf you’ve never had the privilege to meet Allen Settle, you only have to peer inside his cramped and cluttered office to understand just how academically involved this professor of municipal government, public law and finance, and member of the San Luis Obispo City Council, truly is.
But don’t be fooled by the towering stacks of papers and books that line his office like a minefield of academia; he is neither a pack-rat, lazy or unorganized but a vigorously passionate Cal Poly political science professor and member of local government, involved in a plethora of activities on campus, in the local government and the state of California.
Just point to a mass of papers or a heap of hardcover books in his office, and Settle can explain their political or academic relevance in great detail.
That’s just the kind of guy he is: a guy who works vehemently to know all the details of government, law and finance, and impart that knowledge to both his students and peers in government.
“Many students should have an interest in political science because finance and government have a closer relationship than they think,” Settle said. “Students need to understand that money is driving policy making in government; not democracy but plutocracy.”
What Settle implies is that the current form of policy-making in government is driven by money, and therefore public policy is dictated by those who possess the most of it.
As he put it, the plutocratic characteristics of government are perverting politicians and thus policy, making which takes control of the government out of the hands of the people.
“If students truly want to be represented by a democratic government then they need to understand how government is currently dictated by plutocracy and partisanship and take it back,” Settle said. “I encourage as many of my students to become engineers, city planners, finance directors, lawyers, or participants in as many facets of city, state or federal government,” Settle said.
The core of his courses is an attempt to influence students to “try and keep it (government) democracy.”
Originally from Boston, Mass., Settle and his family relocated to the Central Coast nearly 40 years ago. As an escape from the harsh winters of New England, the move for the Settles also carried a political significance.
“My father moved us to this area for more opportunity but specifically because it was a non-partisan area,” Settle said. “You didn’t have to deal with all the bureaucracy of large city governments out here, and to this day San Luis Obispo is still a non-partisan city government.”
He explained that San Luis Obispo’s city council members are not permitted to run for office on party lines – Democrat, Republican, etc. – and therefore voters are not swayed or influenced by those party’s political ideals, but by the individual merits of the those running for office.)
Settle said he was always interested in law and government. From an early age, he knew that he wanted to be an active participant in both fields.
“I can remember the first time I knew that I wanted to know what the law was,” Settle recalled. “I remember visiting a mobile-home park and I remember being confused because I didn’t understand how you could own a (mobile home) but not own the land that it sat on. From that point on I became very interested in land use, taxation and regulations.”
Settle immediately became involved in both education and government after graduating from UC Santa Barbara. Settle became a political science professor at Cal Poly in 1974, and a member of local government shortly thereafter.
Settle has built quite the resume from then until now, having served in several city committees such as the City Planning Commission, Environmental Review Committee and the County Area Council of Government to name a few. He was also the mayor of San Luis Obispo, having served four terms between 1994 and 2002. Currently, Settle is one of five council members on the San Luis Obispo City Council.
Settle also credits himself with helping to promote and nurture downtown business, build an infrastructure mitigating traffic and fixing streets, and establishing the Damon-Garcia Athletic fields off of South Broad Street and Tank Farm Road, in order to provide more outlets for Cal Poly students in San Luis Obispo.
One of several perks Settle said comes from his dual profession as both a city council member and an educator is that many of the issues that he deals with in city council can be readily discussed and evaluated in his political science, law and finance classes.
“It definitely serves a beneficial purpose as being current, local and relevant to affairs of government,” Settle said.
Though Settle teaches a diverse variety of courses in law, finance, and political science, there are two universal pieces of knowledge that he imparts to all of his students: first – understand the law; and second – understand money and finance. Engineers, agriculture majors, business majors, or any students interested in careers that involve management must be wary of financial affairs even before they apply for a job because more and more employers, corporate and government, are evaluating applicants by their credit scores, Settle said.
“Students really need to pay attention to their FICO (Fair Isaacs & Co.) Credit score because employers look at those more than ever,” Settle said. “If you have a bad credit (a score as low as 450) then you can forget about getting hired because who is going to put you in a position to manage money if you can’t manage your own?”
In business and politics, it boils down to the relationship of law, finance, and government. If you understand these things, especially if you plan on going in to positions of management or government, “You’re good to go,” Settle said.
Otherwise, as Settle said, “If you don’t know them, you’re crippled.”