Jan. 3rd, 2017

tassosss: We are not plotting your destruction. Really. (destruction)
[personal profile] tassosss
The 115th Congress was sworn in today. Now's the time to get to know your representatives, especially ones who were elected this cycle.

I know many people have done this already, but for those that haven't, here's your nudge: one way to lower the barrier to calling your representatives is to program their State and Washington Office phone numbers into your phone.

From the previous post on this:

Find Your Representative - by zip code for House of Representatives. this should lead to your Reps, and then to their websites where you can find the contact info for the Washington D.C. Office and their State office.

Senators Contact - list form for the Senators. The link on their name seems to go to their webpage, and their link under "contact" can go to either a webform or a webpage. You'll have to experiment to see which one gets you to a phone number.

ALSO IMPORTANT 
Find the contact info for your STATE REPRESENTATIVES and GOVERNOR. Right now, Republicans control the majority of State Legislatures, and these will be the rising stars of the party in future elections. No reason not to voice your displeasure at the direction of the national party with it's lower rung members.




tassosss: Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan Era (Default)
[personal profile] tassosss
What happened?
Washington Post
House Republicans back off gutting ethics watchdog after backlash from Trump

What's the Office of Congressional Ethics?
The Hill
Why Republicans took aim at an ethics watchdog
Democrats created the OCE after winning the 2006 elections in part on a promise to “drain the swamp” — a phrase President-elect Donald Trump co-opted in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

At the time, the public was clamoring for Washington to clean up Capitol Hill after the corruption and bribery scandal involving former super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff that ensnared several lawmakers and aides.

Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) set up a bipartisan panel that developed a plan to hold members more accountable. OCE was the result.
What might it mean for how Congress moves forward?
Vox
Saving the congressional ethics office isn’t as big a victory as it seems
The fight wasn’t won by norms. It was won by power.

Here’s the thing about relying on the expectation of public backlash to dissuade politicians from doing something: It has to work every single time. The first time a politician does something despite being warned that the public will reject him for it, and that rejection doesn’t materialize — or it materializes, but not strongly enough or for long enough to drive him from office — he’s free to dismiss any future warning of backlash as so much noise.


If you have other relevant links, please share them in comments.


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