They shoot lobbyists don't they?

If asked I am reasonably sure that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that their interests are not served by the nationally elected officials primarily because of lobbyists and special interest groups. For purpose of this discussion, I will use the term lobbyist for any person or group who is paid to peddle influence to Capitol Hill.

The American people should demand to take back their government from those on K Street. K Street is a street is Washington DC where most of these 'fronts' are located, usually law firms whose sole purpose is to set up a program whereby they 'hire' ex-public officials because of their connection to the system. There are laws which limit who and when a public official can become a registered lobbyist, but generally speaking there are ways around these limitations.

I would suggest the movie The Distinguished Gentleman to get an idea how the system works.

Here is an idea that may solve the lobbyist problem. Lobbyists must be registered as they are now. Lobbyist will be made up of principals, not paid mouth pieces. In other words, A primary corporate executive of a company, lets say Pfizer can be a registered lobbyist, not a former Congressional aide or government employee. There would be a list of these people who those in government can ask advice from in an on demand capacity. No lobbyist will be able to make their own appointment to peddle their influence, but they would be available in a consultant capacity. Realistically, no member of Congress can know the nuts and bolts of every industry, so access to real experts is necessary. Lobbyists don't vote, so the priority should go to constituents who may wish to drop by to see their elected officials.

The second part of the solution is to do away with 'fund raisers' set up by lobbyists. Fund raisers are a back door bribe to grease the wheels. If there are limits to the amount of money a person can raise to run for office, the need for fund raisers are irrelevant. The solution is fairly simple. Since each congressional district is essentially the same because of apportionment, simple limit the amount of money that can be raised to say $1.00 per person for a primary, $2.00 for the General Election. Limit who can actually donate to those people or business who are actually in that district, no money from outside the district at all. No money from the national parties or special interests. The Senate is a little different since each state is different, but say for states a certain limit in funding, but again, only money derived from those who live in that state or companies actually headquartered in that state.

There would be no attack ads by those outside the campaigns, which could raise constitutional issues.

The idea is simple. There are so many hours in a day and for every hour not spent on dealing with lobbyists and fund raising is an hour that can be spent representing those who actually voted for them. We need a level playing field for our elected officials. It's seems crazy for someone to spend millions of dollars for a Senate campaign and we end up with the guy who spend more than the other guy and is less qualified. Lets make these folks run a fair campaign and force them to come to us and ASK for our vote rather than intimidating use NOT to vote for the other guy with attack ads.