Wouldn’t it be nice if politicians engaged with their constituents in order to get their vote and their donations? One-on-one? Knocking on doors in neighborhoods? Speaking with them individually? Learning about the issues and concerns that they have, rather than listening to lobbyists and special interests?
Wouldn't it also be nice if we could return as much of the legislative and voting process to one person casting a single vote? If we could get the corrupting influence of money out of politics in general?
Here in Colorado, multiple groups have been trying to make that vision a reality. Last year, in Denver, a coalition of election reform groups drafted an ethics bill for the city of Denver. And despite the biggest lobbyist in the city bringing a lawsuit against it, the city council took up large portions of that bill and continued to promote them.
A summary of the changes passed by the city council:
- All gifts from anyone who does or wishes to do business with the city must be reported, no matter how small.
- The limit for gifts is now $300, instead of the former limit which was based on the number of gifts instead of dollar amount.
One of the major players in that reform work was Represent.Us. Represent.Us is the nation’s largest grassroots anti-corruption campaign. They bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to fix America’s corrupt political system.
The Denver chapter of Represent.Us is currently working with local partners to build a grassroots, bipartisan anti-corruption network to pass laws that fix Colorado's corrupt political system and broken elections. Ballot petitions for 2018 are currently circulating, and they plan to start collecting signatures within the coming weeks.
Represent.Us is a founding partner of the coalition of reform organizations behind "Unrig the System," an event aimed at reforming Colorado politics. Find out more by watching the video below or by visiting unrig.it.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Carlos Yudica