Ask Congress: Yes or No, Do You Support Publicly Funded Elections

The Abramoff Scandals have exposed a system of corruption and unprecedented corporate influence-peddling that that will not be easily fixed. Yet while Washington insiders dicker over specific rules regarding travel, gifts, and restrictions on post-government lobbying (revolving door), reporting and tougher ethics rules enforcement standards, most of these proposals can be undermined in one way or another. That's why we must insist that Congress adopt the most effective approach: publicly funded elections.

Public financing of campaigns is the clearest way to break the stranglehold that corporations have over elected officials. It is already being enacted by state and local governments. For example, Connecticut recently adopted this approach for state representatives in reaction to a major scandal there. And cities like Portland, OR have also jumped on the "clean money elections" bandwagon (also known as "voter-owned elections").

Tell Your Representatives to Support the "Clean Money, Clean Elections Act" (HR 3099).

To get your Senator's contact information click Here .
To contact your Congress member, click Here .

To Call Congress:
US Capitol Switchboard - (202) 224-3121

Crack Down on Contract-Related Corruption and Cronyism

And epidemic of waste, fraud, kickbacks and other contract-related abuses has been witnessed in Iraq and in the post-Hurricane reconstruction projects. Yet the Bush administration’s $82 billion 2005 supplemental request for the war in Iraq and its request for money to help reconstruct New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf were sent to Congress and passed without any measures that would significantly improve contract management and oversight.

Call your Representative and Senators and demand that they stop rewarding lawbreaking contractors by enacting strict standards of suspension and debarment for lawbreaking contractors.

Tell your Senator that he/she should support the following clean contracting proposals:

* Public disclosure: put all contracts and subcontracts online for public scrutiny.
* Criminally prosecute contractors who cheat taxpayers; enact clear suspension and debarment standards for companies that break the law; require disclosure of violations by companies that bid on federal contracts (and a publicly-accessible database).
* Impose stiff criminal and civil penalties for wartime fraud on government contracting;
* Prohibit contractors with conflicts of interest from conducting oversight or writing contract requirements they could bid on;
* Mandate full disclosure of contract overcharges;
* Create tough penalties for improper no-bid contracts;
* Close the revolving door between federal contract officials and private contractors.

* Create a special investigative committee modeled after Harry Truman's Senate Committee, to investigate allegations of waste, fraud, bribery, and other abuses committed by contractors in Iraq and the ongoing war on terror. For more information check out Durbin's press release and the Contract Watch website.

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