Treadwell Releases Reform Plan to Provide Greater Openness, Accountability, Fiscal Responsibility in Congress

Former New York Secretary of State Sandy Treadwell, Republican, Independence, and Conservative Party candidate for the 20^th Congressional District, released a major reform package designed to add greater accountability and fiscal responsibility to Congress.

"We need to rebuild people's trust in Congress and that requires a change in the way our government does business," Treadwell said. "People view Washington as a distant, closed-door institution that pushes a political agenda of self-promotion instead of policies that address our needs. We must open up Congress to greater public scrutiny and enact reforms that will make our representatives more responsive to taxpayers."

Treadwell's reform package includes:

Term limits: A constitutional amendment to limit member of the House of Representatives to four terms (eight years) and Senators to two terms (12 years), which would shift the focus in Congress from constant re-election campaigning to public service. Sandy has pledged to serve no more than four terms and called on his opponent and all members of Congress to support a term-limit standard.

Earmark Moratorium: A one-year moratorium will provide an opportunity for a thorough review and overhaul of pork barrel spending programs to increase transparency, prevent corruption, and ensure that these federal projects are worthy of taxpayer funding.

Franking Disclosure: This would require all taxpayer-financed mailings to list the cost for creating, printing, and distributing the mailer, ensuring that constituents know how their tax dollars are being spent. Being able to send out taxpayer-funded mailing is a privilege and greater transparency will help to ensure that this privilege is not misused.

Mandatory online posting of Congressional office budgets: The public should have access to how much their federal representative is spending on his/her office and a detailed listing of those expenditures. With each of the 435 members of the House allocated at least $1.1 million for office expenditures, taxpayers have a right to know how this money is being spent.

Accountability in Government Hiring and Promotion Practices: Taxpayers should have access to a user-friendly, easily searchable database that lists the salaries of all political appointees on the federal government payroll. The database would include salary, job title, and office of employment for each appointee.

In addition, all members of Congress should be required to disclose family members who gained employment in a government position following the member's election to Congress and also any promotions or salary adjustments of these employees if it was not gained through a promotional examination or collective bargaining.

Lobbying: The perception of lobbyist influence clouds government at all levels and Congress should take action to address perceived conflicts of interest and real influence peddling. Sandy Treadwell is calling for:

• Elimination of the Revolving Door: the House should adopt Senate rules to end the "revolving door" culture in Washington. This includes: a two-year period during which former House members will be prohibited from lobbying Congress; an expanded one-year period during which former senior House staffers are prohibited from lobbying all House staffers, not just former co-workers; and a new one-year period that would prohibit any House staffer from lobbying his or her former office of employment.
• Tougher Regulation on Family Member Lobbying: both the House and Senate should toughen their rules to ban all immediate family members of House representatives from lobbying a House staffer and all immediate family members of Senators from lobbying any Senate staffer.
• Additional Disclosure: all members of Congress should be required to disclose information on their office website pertaining to any immediate family member or former staffer who is registered to lobby at the federal, state, or local level. In addition, the site would also list all lobbying clients of immediate family members or former staffs that merit disclosure under federal, state, or local laws.

"I believe people want to know that Congress is working for them, but when you look at some of things that are going on in Washington, that doesn't seem to be a priority anymore," Treadwell said. "I want to strip away some of the perks that do not promote good government. My plan will eliminate the excesses and bring government back to its core mission of public service."

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