Brindisi joins more than 100 candidates calling for sweeping government and election reform in next Congress
Anthony Brindisi joined more than 100 House challengers in calling on the House of Representatives to make a government and election reform bill the first item on the agenda for the next Congress in 2019.
Key elements of the bill would include: reforming the role of money in politics to ensure more transparency and accountability in elections, eliminating foreign money from our political system, limiting the undue influence of mega donors and special interests, and incentivizing small dollar donors, as well as lobbying reform, ethics reform, redistricting reform, and voting rights protection.
In a letter to the House of Representatives, the 107 candidates wrote:
“Restoring faith in our elections and in the integrity of our elected officials should be a top priority that all members of Congress can agree upon. Without these reforms we will be unable to truly regain the public’s trust or tackle the challenges of our day, like the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs, the opioid epidemic, or building an economy that is strong for working families. For those reasons, these reforms must be sweeping, and they must be bold. They must be the very first item Congress addresses.”
“The American people know that Washington isn’t working for them. They want candidates who will unrig the system and put the people ahead of mega donors and special interests,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Anthony Brindisi, and the rest of the candidates on this letter are serious about reform. They’re sending a strong message to Washington, that when they’re elected, things will be different. End Citizens United is proud to have endorsed Anthony, and we look forward to working with him to help pass meaningful reforms that clear the way for Congress to do the people’s business.”
“I signed this letter for the same reason I’m not taking any corporate money in this election: it’s time we prioritize people over special interests,” said Anthony Brindisi. “We can’t build a better healthcare system if insurance companies have more political influence than patients. We can’t build a better economy if Wall Street money floods our elections. And with Claudia Tenney in office, the special interests always win out. It’s time we changed the system to make our government more transparent and accountable to the people.”
Electoral reform is a top priority for voters this year. A recent bipartisan poll conducted by the George W. Bush Institute, the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center and Freedom House shows that money in politics is one of the top reasons people believe the government does not represent them.
You can read the full text of the letter here.