Kosmas Releases Ethics Reform Priorities, As Feeney Named to List of Corrupt Members of Congress
NEW SMYRNA BEACH - Suzanne Kosmas, small businesswoman and Democratic Congressional Candidate in Florida's 24th District, today released her Ethics Reform Priorities, saying that she will fight for reforms that put the priorities of her constituents, not special interests, first.
Kosmas' ethics reform proposal was released days after Tom Feeney was named as one of the Top 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress by a non-partisan ethics watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). This is the fourth time Tom Feeney has made CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress list, and he is one of only three officials to be on CREW's list every year since the annual reports began in 2005. Both Republicans and Democrats appear on CREW's list.
"It's clear that Tom Feeney has forgotten why he was sent to Washington, and has become part of a broken system that is more concerned with rewarding lobbyists and special interests than protecting middle class Floridians," said Kosmas. "Voters are tired of the dishonesty, lack of transparency, and corruption that has become too much the norm in Washington. I will go to Congress to fight for more ethics reform, encourage openness by everyone there, and, most importantly, lead by example."
Suzanne Kosmas' full Ethics Reform Priorities and Record of Cleaning up Government is attached.
Highlights of Kosmas' Ethics Reform Priorities Include:
- Suzanne Kosmas pledges that, if elected, she will never accept a pay raise and will send that money back to the federal treasury.
- Kosmas promises that she will not lobby Congress at the end of her service.
- To promote transparency, Kosmas will post her daily schedule, any earmark requests and her votes on her website.
- Additionally, she will work to increase the amount of disclosure and transparency required of all members of Congress and to make access to the public more convenient through publicly available websites.
- Suzanne Kosmas will work to limit the influence of lobbyists on Congress and supports extending the "cooling off" period so that Members of the House cannot lobby Congress for five years.
- Suzanne Kosmas supports creating an independent agency that would oversee ethics and lobbyist rules and laws and would have independent authority to enforce those provisions.
- Suzanne supports a measure to ensure full disclosure between lobbyists and members of Congress. She would back a measure to force lobbyists to publicly divulge the members of Congress they lobby and the legislation they sought to influence.