“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 run 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
The Republican National Convention’s second day is focused on a theme of “Reform.” Over the past eight years, we’ve learned exactly how our federal government truly needs reform. For eight years, the government has acted under a cloud of secrecy, where our national policies are written by lobbyists and special interests. Barack began his national campaign calling for strict reforms for our federal government. Barack’s plan calls for new transparency in the federal government and freeing the government from the influence of lobbyists. To do this, Barack has called for the creation of an independent watchdog agency to monitor lobbying laws and ethics rules violations, and a series of national databases where citizens themselves can monitor how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them. Barack will also end abuse of no-bid contracts, such as those that have cost the American taxpayers billions in Iraq. Barack’s idea is to create a government for and by the people, so the American people can see at all times what their government is doing. To this end, 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, and require that rulemaking agencies and executive branch departments conduct their business in public. Beyond proposing policy changes, Barack is not only talking about broad ethics reform –he is already doing it. Unlike the McCain campaign, Barack refuses to accept any contributions from Washington lobbyists and political action committees, because he believes true reform starts today. Learn more about Barack’s plan for reform.
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