One of my main reasons for supporting Obama is his work toward open and accountable government.
Election protection is one such area.
Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) – Sen. Obama has introduced several pieces of election legislation during his tenure in the Senate.
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“Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005” (S. 1975) would criminalize efforts to confuse or intimidate voters in an attempt to keep them away from the polls on Election Day. The bill would make it a crime to knowingly communicate, within 60 days of an election, false information about the time and place of an election, a voter’s eligibility, registration rules and endorsements by a person or organization. Convictions for violating the law would carry with it penalties of up $100,000 or five years imprisonment, or both. It would also increase the maximum criminal penalty for voter intimidation from one year to five years’ imprisonment. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
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“Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2006” (S. 4069) was a new version of voter intimidation and prevention of deceptive practices bill introduced in the previous session of Congress. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
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“The Election Jamming Prevention Act of 2006” (S.4102) bill would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the use of telecommunications devices for the purposes of preventing or obstructing the broadcast or exchange of election-related information. The bill was read twice and referred to committee
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“Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007” (S.453) is a new version of voter intimidation/prevention of deceptive practices bill introduced in the previous session of Congress. The bill was reintroduced on Jan. 31, read twice and referred to committee.
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“Voter Advocate and Democracy Index Act” (S. 737) legislation would create a scorecard to rank states on a set of standards designed to measure the ease of exercising the right to vote. Under the proposed legislation a new Office of the Voter Advocate would be created within the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and would develop a Democracy Index. The Index would require states to report basic performance metrics such as the amount of time voters spend waiting in line, the number of voters incorrectly directed to the wrong polling place, the rate of ballots discarded or not counted along with an explanation, and the rate of voting system malfunctions and the time required on average to get the systems back online, to name a few. The legislation directs the Office of the Voter Advocate to conduct a pilot program in selected states in 2008. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
http://www.electionline.org/Newsletters/tabid/87/ctl/Detail/mid/643/xmid/244/xmfid/3/Default.aspxCitizen access to government spending resulted from the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) sponsored by Obama and made into law:
* A free, searchable website that will track approximately $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, earmarks and loans.
* Near real-time updates of data concerning federal spending. Updates can be expected every two weeks instead of quarterly, as is the current practice for existing federal grants information.
* The opportunity for the users to post comments and provide feedback about the website in a public, online user community.
* For the first time, most government spending data will be searchable by contractor or grantee and by congressional district.
* For the first time, grant recipients will receive a unique identifier that will help users track recipients.
* In January 2009, the database will include searchable information about subcontracts and subgrants.
http://www.usaspending.gov/Also the Feingold-Obama Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act:
Banning Lobbyists’ Gifts and Curbing Privately Funded Travel
* Prohibits lobbyists and organizations that retain or employ lobbyists from giving gifts to Members or staff. Includes exceptions for family members and personal friends, campaign contributions, informational materials, etc.
* Requires Members and campaigns to reimburse for the use of corporate jets at the charter rate rather than at first class airfare as is now required. Also requires disclosure of itinerary, purpose, and identity of others who were on the plane for any such trips.
* Includes new travel rules just adopted by the House of Representatives that would limit privately funded travel to one-day events with minimal lobbyist involvement. Only organizations that do not employ or retain lobbyists could pay for multi-day, educational trips. Pre-approval by the Ethics Committee for all privately funded travel is required.
* Prohibits lobbyists and entities that retain or employ lobbyists from throwing lavish parties honoring members at the party conventions.
Improving Enforcement of the Rules
* Includes the Lieberman-Collins proposal for an Office of Public Integrity to carry out independent investigations of ethics complaints.
Slowing the Revolving Door
* Increases cooling-off period for executive and legislative branch employees from one to two years. Former Members and very senior executive branch officials (cabinet members, heads of agencies) will be prohibited from engaging in lobbying activities as well as lobbying contacts for that period. This will prevent a former Member from supervising or designing a lobbying campaign while avoiding any direct contact with Members or staff.
* Former senior congressional staff will be restricted from making lobbying contacts to the entire house of Congress they worked for rather than just the employing office as under current law.
* Requires lobbyists to disclose on their lobbying registrations any previous employment with the executive or legislative branch, rather than only such employment within two years prior to acting as a lobbyist.
* Prohibits Members from engaging in negotiations for future employment as a lobbyist. Requires senior staff to disclose such negotiations for any future employment to the Ethics Committee and obtain guidance on avoiding possible conflicts of interest.
* Provides that any benefit available equally and only to all former members of the Senate shall not be available to former Senators who are registered lobbyists (e.g., floor privileges, gym membership).
* Prohibits the staff of a Senator from having any official contact with that Senator’s spouse or family members.
Improving Lobbying Disclosure
* Requires lobbying disclosure reports to be filed quarterly rather than semi-annually, and requires electronic filing and Internet searchable databases to improve public accessibility.
* Requires disclosure of the earmarks that lobbyists have sought for their clients.
* Requires disclosure of grassroots lobbying expenditures.
* Requires disclosure of members of lobbying coalitions.
* Requires lobbyists to disclose political contributions they make or collect, fundraisers they hold, and donations to presidential libraries, inaugural committees, and charities associated with Members of Congress.
* Requires recipients of federal funds to disclose the lobbyists they have hired to advocate for those funds.
* Requires electronic filing of Senate campaign reports.
Strengthening Open Government in the Senate
* Eliminates secret holds.
* Requires conference reports to be available on the Internet for Senators and the public at least 48 hours prior to their being considered in the Senate.
* Prohibits “dead of night” changes to conference reports after signatures of conferees have been obtained.
* Provides a point of order against “out of scope matters” in a conference report that were in neither House or Senate versions of a bill. 60 votes are required to waive this point of order.
http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/issues_ethicsfacts.htmlI have many other reasons, but this an important one to me.
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