Lobbying Reform
The 110th Congress was to emphasis Congressional ethics but unfortunately instead of considering legislation aimed at the conduct of members of Congress, Federal Officials, and their staffs, most legislation is dealing with limiting grassroots lobbying efforts. Principle in this fight is HR 2093, to amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide for additional reporting by lobbying firms. Specifically, to increase the disclosure requirements of organization which communicate with the general public to lobby congress. While, Congressman Bartlett supports legislation which will achieve true ethics reform, he does not support moves to limit citizens’ free speech or right to petition government.
Congressman Bartlett remains committed to preserving the ethical standards and rules, initially written by Thomas Jefferson, that the House of Representatives is held to. If anything should ever be considered by the House Republican Conference or Congress as a whole that would weaken the integrity of this dignified body, please know that he will fight to preserve those fundamental values, standards, and rules.
Election Reform
Congressman Bartlett supported the Help America Vote Act (HAVA, P.L. 107-252) which was enacted in 2002, which created a new federal agency with election administration responsibilities, set requirements for voting and voter-registration systems and certain other aspects of election administration, and provided federal funding; but it did not supplant state and local control over election administration.
As a result of this bill, the voting system became too reliant on technology and left out a second trail of voting – a paper trail. Technology coupled with verifiable paper trails provides a system in which the public can be confident that their votes are counted accurately and swiftly. Congressman Bartlett would support legislation which simply requires a verifiable paper trail.
In order to address this short coming in the HAVA legislation, HR 811, Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007, was introduced. However, this legislation goes beyond the requirement of paper trails and has many problems associated with it. For example, the requirement that if lines become too long that paper ballots will be handed out with out requiring the individuals to first check their names with an election officials.
Other Reforms
Clearly, the 2008 Presidential campaign is underway and next summer we will witness the party conventions, I have introduced HR 72 to prohibit the use of public funds for Political party conventions. With record breaking amounts of money already being raised, there is no reason that the American people should be expected pay for these elaborate parties.
Government Reform/Government Accountability Links*
House Committee on Government Reform
Federal Election Commission
Federal Voting Assistance Program
* I do not necessarily support all of the information and opinions expressed therein.
