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Smart
voters know that to explain the behavior of some politicians, you often
just have to “follow the money.” One
way to limit the effects of special interests is to have transparent
campaign finance reporting. With that in mind, I have adopted three
"clean money" reforms, and asked candidate Irene Egan and
incumbent Paul Milde to do the same.
First,
I will report the source of all campaign contributions, regardless of
size. Current Virginia law only
requires reporting the source of contributions greater than $100.
Though multiple small donations that add up to more than $100 are
supposed to be reported, there is no effective way to enforce this law,
leaving too much room for mischief. The
best way to close this loophole is simply to report all
contributions. That’s what I
pledge to do.
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Second,
I will not accept any campaign contributions from the development industry
(developers, builders, real estate agents and land speculators).
I do this because this is the industry that profits most from the
actions of Supervisors through rezonings and other land use legislation.
By declining contributions from them, citizens can be confident that I am
free of obligations to those special interests.
Third,
in the spirit of transparency and openness, I will make all economic
interest statements and campaign finance reports available on my website.
Citizens should have easy access to such information from all
candidates.
I
have also pledged that if I am elected, I will work to have the Board of Supervisors adopt a code of
ethics, which, among other things, places limits on campaign contributions
by people, organizations or corporations with applications before the
Board. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors adopted such a code of
ethics in response to concerns that campaign contributors were unduly
influencing Board decisions. I have
asked Ms. Egan and Mr. Milde to take this same pledge.
Clean
elections give citizens a greater voice in their government, while greatly
reducing the undue influence of special interest money in politics. It’s time
to restore honesty and a spirit of service to the office of Aquia
Supervisor, and I will run my election campaign the same way I will
govern: with integrity.
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