Bruce, he is the best thing that has happened to
America since JFK,
Regards Martin
----- Original Message -----
To: wddm@world-wide-democracy.net
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 12:30
AM
Subject: [WDDM] Direct Democracy with
Obama
Direct Democracy with people inner-actions see
plan below.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/
Go to issues and Barack has his plan outlined on
all issues. You can see what he will do.
Plan to Change Washington
"I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their
days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any
other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not
funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will
not drown out the voices of the American people when I am
president." — Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10,
2007
At a Glance
Speak your mind and help set the policies that will guide this campaign and
change the country.
The Problem
Lobbyists Write National Policies: For example, Vice
President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force of oil and gas lobbyists met
secretly to develop national energy policy.
Secrecy Dominates Government Actions: The Bush
administration has ignored public disclosure rules and has invoked a legal
tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous
administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.
Wasteful Spending is Out of Control: The current
administration has abused its power by handing out contracts without
competition to its politically connected friends and supporters. These abuses
cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.
Barack Obama's Plan
Shine the Light on Washington
Lobbying
-
Centralize Ethics and Lobbying
Information for Voters: Obama will create a centralized Internet
database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings
in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.
-
Require Independent Monitoring of
Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules: Obama will use the power of the
presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the
investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be
assured that ethics complaints will be investigated.
-
Support Campaign Finance Reform: Obama supports public
financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way
to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. Obama introduced
public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and is the only
2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) tough bill
to reform the presidential public financing system.
Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and
Earmarks
-
Create a Public "Contracts and
Influence" Database: As president, Obama will create a "contracts
and influence" database that will disclose how much federal contractors
spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they
complete them.
-
Expose Special Interest Tax Breaks to
Public Scrutiny: Barack Obama will ensure that any tax breaks for
corporate recipients — or tax earmarks — are also publicly available on the
Internet in an easily searchable format.
-
End Abuse of No-Bid
Contracts: Barack Obama will end abuse of no-bid contracts by
requiring that nearly all contract orders over $25,000 be competitively
awarded.
-
Sunlight Before Signing: Too
often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the
public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign
any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to
review and comment on the White House website for five days.
-
Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending:
Obama's Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all
earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each
earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be
approved by the full Senate.
Bring Americans Back into their
Government
-
Hold 21st Century Fireside
Chats: Obama will bring democracy and policy directly to the people
by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national broadband
townhall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies.
-
Make White House Communications
Public: Obama will amend executive orders to ensure that
communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside
government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public.
-
Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in
Public: Obama will require his appointees who lead the executive
branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant
business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see in person or
watch on the Internet these debates.
-
Release Presidential Records: Obama will nullify the
Bush attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more
difficult.
Free the Executive Branch from Special Interest
Influence
-
Close the Revolving Door on Former and
Future Employers: No political appointees in an Obama
administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts
directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years.
And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after
leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.
-
Free Career Officials from the
Influence of Politics: Obama will issue an executive order asking
all new hires at the agencies to sign a form affirming that no political
appointee offered them the job solely on the basis of political affiliation
or contribution.
-
Reform the Political Appointee Process: FEMA Director
Michael Brown was not qualified to head the agency, and the result was a
disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast. But in an Obama administration,
every official will have to rise to the standard of proven excellence in the
agency's mission.
Barack Obama's Record:
-
Federal Ethics Reform: Obama
and Senator Feingold (D-WI) took on both parties and proposed ethics
legislation that was described as the "gold standard" for reform. It was
because of their leadership that ending subsidized corporate jet travel,
mandating disclosure of lobbyists' bundling of contributions, and enacting
strong new restrictions of lobbyist-sponsored trips became part of the final
ethics bill that was signed into law. The Washington Post wrote in an
editorial, "The final package is the strongest ethics legislation to emerge
from Congress yet."
-
Google for Government:
Americans have the right to know how their tax dollars are spent, but that
information has been hidden from public view for too long. That's why Barack
Obama and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) passed a law to create a Google-like
search engine to allow regular people to approximately track federal grants,
contracts, earmarks, and loans online. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It
would enable the public to see where federal money goes and how it is spent.
It's a brilliant idea."
-
Illinois Reform: In 1998,
Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the
toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned
the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned most
gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked
Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.
-
A High Standard: Unlike other candidates Obama's
campaign refuses to accept contributions from Washington lobbyists and
political action committees.
For More Information about Barack's Plan
Read
the Plan Read
and Watch the Speech
-- Bruce
Eggum Gresham Wisconsin, USA President King http://www.thisnation.com/library/antifederalist/74.html http://www.doinggovernment.com/ Check
out my Blog too http://bruceeggum.blogster.com/
vote
|