Transparency and campaign reform

Most voters are familiar with the pork and earmark money that comes into their districts. They are made aware of these funds by their representatives through newsletters and campaign literature.

But those funds come at a price and representatives, while they tout their successes, don't publicize that price.

Here is a simple method of campaign reform.

It should be made mandatory that representative's newsletters, which, after all, are paid for (whether they want them or not) by the constituents, must contain the voting record of the representative  on all issues. It should also be mandatory that all campaign donors and their donated amounts be listed. Candidates running against an incumbent must also list all their donors and campaign contributions. In the event that the opposing candidate has a previous voting record it should also be listed.

These transparencies will give voters the information needed to make an informed voting decision.

If the representative doesn't want to list his/her voting record or their campaign contributions in his/her newsletter he/she must at the very least list them in a local newspaper.

If nothing else, we may find that our mailboxes will be stuffed with less useless political material.