Thursday, December 29, 2016

PBS Newshour

Would the Alabama legislative delegation please watch the below video from last night's PBS Newshour and offer their comments. Thank you.


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Sunday, December 18, 2016

Is fighting DC corruption an AL priority?

I wish for the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington to make a priority of restoring honesty and accountability, and cleaning up corruption and special interest collusion, as promised by the President-Elect in his Contract with the American Voter. See The 2018 citizens' unity Congress.

Are Alabama's representatives in Congress going to make it any priority of theirs to help advance this in 2017? (Rep. Byrne has said he supports term limits (see Term limits), but I don't know what Rep. Byrne plans to do in 2017 to advance that.)

One of the President-Elect's proposed measures is a five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.

Regarding the lobbying ban measure: Is that something individual members of Congress could implement for themselves and their staffs without Congressional action as a whole? If yes, are Alabama's representatives in Congress willing to undertake that immediately for themselves and their staffs? Answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Since the President-Elect has famously taken to Twitter for communicating directly to voters, might Alabama's legislative delegation in DC do similarly, and further extend the same to two way communications between the Representative and his or her constituents? Such a use of Twitter could be the start of new transparency and accountability in our governance. Please consider this suggestion. I will initiate here from the constituent side by using the #alpolitics, #al01, etc. hashtags.

Thank you.




 12/28/16: See AL Cong'l delegation lobbying ban positions;  Contenders for Sessions seat.

12/29/16
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Contenders for Sessions seat

Dear Governor Bentley,

In the 2016 Presidential election, the American people heard for eighteen months about a rigged, broken, and corrupt Congress and political system. This came from both Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side and Donald Trump on the Republican side.

It culminated with Donald Trump's Contract with the American Voter, in which the President-Elect committed to embark immediately on a plan for restoring honesty and accountability, and bringing change to Washington. The Contract proposed six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC. These are:
★ FIRST, propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.
★ SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).
★ THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.
★ FOURTH, a five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.
★ FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
★ SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

In deciding whom you will appoint to replace Senator Sessions in Congress (assuming he will be confirmed as Attorney General), I urge you to think about the importance of cleaning up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington DC, and how well your appointment will advance that objective.

Thank you.

UPDATE 12/21/16 Persons reported under consideration
It has been reported that Gov. Bentley has interviewed  suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Judge Roy Moore; U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville; former state Rep. Perry Hooper of Montgomery; Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston; Associate Justice Glenn Murdock; Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur; Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper; and Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster.
Inquiry is made to those persons about what their positions and commitment are for restoring honesty and accountability, and cleaning up corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC.
12/3016
The list of contenders for Sessions seat grows with this report of Bentley interviews of state Attorney General Luther Strange, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby,  U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, businessman Tim James,  and state Sen. Greg Reed of Jasper.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

AL Cong'l delegation lobbying ban positions

Will the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington please announce their positions regarding the President-Elect's lobbying ban proposals. Please report whether there are any Congressional bills you are supporting or will support and other steps you will be taking for a lobbying ban for Congress and Congressional staffs.





Washington Post
PowerPost
Trump administration will ban lobbyists, enact five-year lobbying ban after leaving government

 

Donald Trump’s transition team on Wednesday announced that registered state and federal lobbyists will not be allowed to serve in the Trump administration, and people who leave the administration will have to wait five years before they can become lobbyists.
“It goes back to Trump’s goal to make sure people aren’t using government to enrich themselves,” transition spokesman Sean Spicer said on a call with reporters. “The key thing for this administration is going to be that people going out of government won’t be able to use that service to enrich themselves for a five-year period.”
Every person who joins the administration will be asked to sign a lobbying ban form that states they are not a registered lobbyist. If they are, they will have to provide evidence of their termination.
The policy comes after days of criticism over Trump’s inclusion of lobbyists on the transition team, despite his campaign pledge to keep special interests out of Washington.
On its face, the lobbyist ban appears stringent, but it could be easily skirted if a lobbyist were to deregister to be eligible to join the administration. One sign indicates that it may already be happening: A close aide to Pence who is a Washington lobbyist, Josh Pitcock, filed paperwork with the Senate on Monday to terminate his status as a federal lobbyist. Pitcock advised Pence during the presidential campaign, and has lobbied for the state of Indiana since 2013, earning $280,000 a year to lobby on a wide range of issues including health-care marketplace exchange rates and resources for the state’s response to the Zika virus, lobbying records show. Pitcock did not immediately return a request for comment.
The five-year ban is something Trump proposed on the campaign trail in October, and it greatly expands on lobbying ethics rules that impose a one-year or two-year ban — often referred to as a “cooling-off period” — on lawmakers and administration officials becoming lobbyists after leaving government.

The five-year ban will make it harder for Trump to recruit people to work in the administration. It is common for administration officials at all levels to join the law and lobbying industry after leaving government because their policy expertise is highly valued by firms and companies. Limiting people’s post-government employment prospects for five years will probably discourage many people in the Washington policy community, lobbyists or not, from wanting to join the administration.




Update 12/7/16 The President-Elect has also proposed term limits for Congress. See Term limits. I have also asked our Alabama delegation about this:
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Thursday, November 24, 2016

Priority questions for AL legislative delegation

Many people have many questions relative to the pending Trump presidency. These questions are deserving of prioritizing by the President-Elect and Congress. 

The conflicts of interest presented by the Trump business empire should be of very high priority, because they potentially have bearing on every action to be taken starting on day one (January 20th) of the Trump administration. The questions need addressing starting now, and not waiting until January 20th.

Here are some priority questions for your consideration:

1. What is the relationship between the constitutional oath of office to "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" and the exemption for the President that is provided in the "conflicts of interest" statute? What does the word "faithfully" mean in the constitutional oath of office? Can Trump do anything he wants in service of the interests of his business empire and his family, or does the word "faithfully" limit what Trump can do?

2. If the word "faithfully" means there are limitations on what Trump can do, do you think Trump understands that?

3. What is the role of Congress in overseeing whether the President is "faithfully" executing his office? Can Congress impeach the President if it determines that the President has failed to faithfully execute his office? What if the President has one view of what "faithfully" means, and Congress has a differing view?

4. Do you currently have any concerns that President Trump will not faithfully execute his office? What assurances have you gotten thus far, or do you think assurances have been lacking? What do you understand is the President-Elect's understanding  of the word "faithfully"? To the extent you understand what Trump's understanding is, do you agree or disagree with Trump's understanding of what the word "faithfully" means?

5. Given that the question of whether Trump is faithfully executing his office will be relevant immediately starting January 20th, don't you and other members of Congress need to start your own consideration of this matter immediately, so that the country, the Trump administration and Congress are on good ground for moving forward starting January 20th?








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Thursday, November 10, 2016

Trump's contract with American voter

President-Elect Donald Trump campaigned hard at the close of his campaign that he would "drain the swamp" in Washington DC.

In his Contract with the American Voter,  Trump committed to embark immediately on a plan for restoring honesty and accountability, and bringing change to Washington. The Contract proposed six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC. These are:
★ FIRST, propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.
★ SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).
★ THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.
★ FOURTH, a five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.
★ FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
★ SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

REQUEST TO: Alabama legislative delegation in Washington, and other leaders in Alabama government and politics, and in the Alabama business, media, education and civic communities
PLEASE EXPRESS your views about cleaning up corruption and special interest collusion in Washington.

This request is with a view to educating Alabamians on the subject and how it bears on how well Congress and the rest of the Federal government perform their job for the American people.






UPDATE 11/19/16
I am an Alabamian and am pressing this in Alabama. I urge others to do similarly in their States. See The 2018 citizens' unity Congress.
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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Be an Alabamian who wants to know

Is our Congress corrupt?

This morning (August 25) on Fox & Friends, Senator Sessions strongly condemned contributions to The Clinton Foundation and the buying of access to American leaders. See below video


In the very first debate, Trump was brutally honest about the buying of access, and worse things, connected with campaign contributions Here's the video of that. [Ed. 6/28/26 Video no longer available. In the context of discussing political donations, transcript of debate at Republican Debate: Read the Transcript of the Primetime Debate shows: "TRUMP: Sounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor.
I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. "]

Senator Sessions and the rest of the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington should talk to Alabama voters about campaign contributions buying access to Congressional lawmakers and others in Washington, whether Congress is corrupted by the same, and, if so, what should Congress do to fix the corruption.

Are you an Alabamian who wants to know whether Congress is corrupt and whether anything can be done about it?

Step One
If you do want to know, a first step for you is to send tweets to Senators Sessions and Shelby and the Representative for your Congressional district (or even send tweets to all seven of Alabama's representatives in Congress).

You can send tweets by clicking on the below links. The tweet you send will have a link to this blog entry (Be an Alabamian who wants to know).  Also your tweet will contain, and show up under, the Twitter hashtags #FixCongressNow and #alpolitics.

Tweet here to Senator Sessions
Tweet here to Senator Shelby
Tweet here to Rep. Byrne
Tweet here to Rep. Roby
Tweet here to Rep. Rogers
Tweet here to Rep. Alderholt
Tweet here to Rep. Brooks
Tweet here to Rep. Palmer
Tweet here to Rep. Sewell

Step Two
It is doubtful you will get answers from Senators Sessions and Shelby and the Representative for your Congressional district by sending your tweets to them per the above. You need to get lots of your fellow Alabamians to be asking the same questions in way that registers in the Alabama social media. Here is how to do it:

You and other Alabamians send individual tweets to fellow Alabamians in your geographical area who are Twitter users.

First, you need the tweet message you are going to send, with a link to this webpage. I suggest a tweet such as:
I am an Alabamian who wants to know whether our Congress is corrupt. You should want to know too. http://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2016/08/question-to-al-congresspersons-re.html 
Then you need to find follower lists of other Twitter accounts in your geographic location that have a lot of followers in the location. I am in the Jefferson County/Shelby County geographic area, and the below would be examples of good Twitter follower lists to use:
https://twitter.com/GreaterShelby/followers
https://twitter.com/OTMJ_Life/followers
https://twitter.com/HomewoodHigh/followers
https://twitter.com/TrussTribune/followers

In doing your tweeting, you are repetitively sending the same tweet message. This can be done efficiently. Get the tweet message on your mouse clipboard, go to the follower list  you are using for your tweeting, start with the first person on the list you want to tweet to, and do this:
1. Right click on person's Twitter name.
2. Choose "open in new tab"
3. Go to the new tab.
4. Click on the "Tweet to" button.
5. Paste the tweet message in the box.
6. Hit the "Tweet" button.
7. Close the tab, which takes you back to the list
8. Go on to next person, and repeat above steps.
You should be able to send 30 to 40 tweets in a half hour. Send as many tweets as you are willing to. Don't worry about any duplication that you think may arise.

The idea is for recipients of your tweets who click on the link in the tweet will come to this webpage and then join in and do their own tweeting to other Alabamians in their locale. The goal is to produce a pyramiding of tweets that reaches tens of thousands of Alabama voters.
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