Restoring the Public Trust
WHEREAS, there appears to be a serious disconnect between what the public is asking for and what the Federal Congress, State Legislature and local municipalities legislate (including but not limited to universal health care, fully-funded education, bankruptcy laws, etc.), and
WHEREAS, an independent legislature free from any influence other than that of the people is a cornerstone of our Constitution, and
WHEREAS, to be truly representative, campaigns and elections should be controlled by the citizenry at large, not by those who give the most money, and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that a Congressman is forced to locate at least $2,000 a day, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year in order to have the requisite dollars to win their next election and many of those dollars are provided by corporate entities, and
WHEREAS, professional lobbying efforts have burgeoned in both Washington DC and Washington state, using large sums of money to influence legislators based on corporate interests, often contrary to the interests of the average citizen, and
WHEREAS, Congress, in seeking to clean up this problem itself, is proposing very small changes that will remove only a small amount of the influence large corporations have over law making in this country, and state and local governments generally accept that in- and out-of-state corporate donations are acceptable:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Whatcom County Democrats (WCDCC) begin to restore the public trust by asking Democrats across the state to join in support of a bill that bans campaign contributions from lobbyists and state contractors, and approves full public funding for Washington’s political races (following Connecticut, the first state in the nation where the legislature and governor have approved this kind of plan); and
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the WCDCC seeks the support of grassroots Democrats and others seeking restoration of public trust throughout the nation, in supporting similar legislation both in states and at a federal level.
(Date Passed 04/08/2006 by Whatcom County Democrats)
