July 10, 2012

Nebraska GOP Senate Candidate Deb Fischer Puts Out Bold Plan For Ethics Reform

Nebraska GOP Senate Candidate Deb Fischer Puts Out Bold Plan For Ethics Reform
Nebraska GOP Senate candidate Deb Fischer

Deb Fischer shocked political observers recently when she came from behind and won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Nebraska. Although an endorsement from GOP icon Sarah Palin probably helped, it’s worth noting that Fischer has also been campaigning on a strong proposal to reform the ethics and lobbying laws in Congress.

Here’s a few of the provisions that she has listed:

– “A lifetime ban on Members of Congress from becoming federally registered lobbyists after they leave office.”

– “Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Nebraska and other states are subject to FOIA and Washington should be held to the same standard.”

– “Prohibit Members of Congress and federal employees from trading stocks based on information obtained on the job that is not publicly available.”

She is also pushing for term limits, a ban on earmarks to private companies, and other reform proposals. I asked the campaign of her Democratic opponent, Bob Kerrey, for his reform proposals on June 12th. The campaign did not deliver any proposals at the time of this publishing. Fischer is offering bold proposals that would go a long way in reducing corruption in Congress. One would hope that Kerrey can at least match these.