Pledge

The Pledge

I pledge to spend no more than 100 hours per year fund-raising.

Typical representatives in Congress spend more than half of their time fundraising:  30 hours per week according to this 60 Minutes segment called Dialing for Dollars.  It's no wonder they don't get anything done.  Career politicians think that a politician's job is all about raising money.  Actually representing their constituents comes second.

A long time ago, one of my football coaches told me that whatever way somebody was pushing me was the exact opposite of way I should be going:  This is just plain common sense, but it's easy to forget when the press keeps emphasizing the amount of money a candidate rakes in...  So, every time you see press reports of how much money a candidate raises or you see those big $ TV advertisements telling you how to vote, do the following: 

• Spend at least half of your time thinking about where the money came from and how those ads were paid for. 

The candidate who raises the most money from rich donors is the one LEAST likely to represent you in Congress.  They owe debts that they eventually have to repay with votes -- or they won't get more money.

I cannot, in good conscience, accept a job where I spend less than half my time actually doing the job.  That means you can send me to Congress to represent all of us, not just those rich donors.

If you support the pledge, let people know by making a $1 donation to my campaign.

Needless to say, I support public funding of Federal elections.

I'm in favor o keeping dirty money out of out elections; so, I have taken the pledge to not accept fossil fuel money: