By Claudia Wright
We must have ethics reform on the state and federal levels of government. The citizens of this state and nation must reclaim their democracy by demanding:
- Their right to petition their government electronically
- Their right to have a non-partisan, independent watchdog group to oversee ethics complaints
- Their right to real ethics reform, giving citizens the same rights to demand reviews as legislators
- Their right to a transparent process of review for the legislator and the complainant
Because Utahns for Ethical Government outlines these reforms as part of their ballot measure referendum, I support their movement without reservation.
The petition currently set forth by Fair Boundaries would set anti-gerrymandering standards, establish an eleven-member independent commission to review future redistricting, work to keep local communities intact, exclude individuals with obvious conflicts of interest from the commission, and create a process for commission selection and redistricting that is open and transparent. For these reasons, I would encourage all citizens of Utah to sign and support this petition.
True Ethics reform can never happen in Washington due the money and power systems in Congress. Elected officials were not intended to have full life jobs in Washington. I know the vote can remove themn from office, but why should the President be limited to two terms and not congress. Members of congress should not have the right to beefits not afforded to the general population, pensions should be 401K types with Social Security, health insurance the same as the american people who live on little or no health care.