Thank you

This is what I was looking for:

Hoping to gain an early political edge in 2006, Congressional Democratic leaders next week will unveil the first piece of their election-year agenda by announcing a far-reaching legislative package that the party says will clean up government and stop influence peddling in Congress.

The move comes as Congress is set to start the second session of the 109th Congress, and just days after former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to federal counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion in a growing scandal that involves bribing Members in exchange for official acts.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will join with other Congressional Democrats at a Jan. 18 event to introduce their "Honest Leadership Act." Reid and Pelosi plan to use it as the main component of the Democrats' ethics agenda for 2006.

"We long ago identified the Republican soft spot, which is this culture of corruption that pervades every aspect of government in Washington," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

I think it's a week late and would like to see this unveiled as soon as today. I also want to see the specifics of the proposal before endorsing it. Clearly lobbying reform will be a part of it: the fact that members of Congress and their staff can skip from the Capitol to K Street so easily, benefiting from both sides of the system, has got to stop.

The way to get money out of the system is through public financing, strict limits, and Clean Money elections. This already happens in Maine and Arizona, and I think there's so much inertia in the federal sphere that the real push for this is going to come out of the states. California is attempting this right now, and since the state is usually seen as a bellweather on national issues, it's important that this passes. Not only would this get private financing out of the system, it would open up the field to candidates heretofore barred from entering political races. The way it stands now, the more money you are willing to personally sink into your own campaign, the more attractive you are to the state and federal campaign committees (they'll be able to funnel less money to you if you have a bunch yourself). The last New Jersey governor's race featured multi-millionaires and was the most expensive gubenatorial race on record. This will only get worse without Clean Money elections. Wouldn't it be something if a middle class, or God forbid, a POOR person represented their constituents in Washington? Maybe you wouldn't see so much legislation narrowly tailored to fit the interests of the rich and those that contribute.

Clean money elections are the way to go. I hope that's part of the Democrats' anti-corruption agenda.