Dissatisfaction for Congress around the country is growing and it’s not a partisan sentiment. More than a majority of all political parties are wishing for term limits. A recent Gallup poll finds that some ‘82% of Republicans said they would vote “for” term limits versus 79% of Independents and 65% of Democrats who responded similarly.’
Voters are no doubt, tired of all the arguing and bickering over ‘this, or that’ piece of legislation and as such, they’re looking to oust those entrenched lawmakers who campaign on their behalf, but once elected, dismiss that behalf and take up partisan, as well as special interest initiatives.
As Reality,Texas points out, Texas is no different than Washington when it comes to partisan bickering, entrenched lawmakers who continually disregard voters once elected and set about establishing the special interest initiatives that’s always contrary to the will of the people.
The Texas Tribune will make it easy for voters to get an idea of who their representatives are actually representing, as well as, what drives them to make decisions contrary to their will. ‘The Tribune's Bidness As Usual Project is a collection of stories that will run through the length of the 83rd session and citizens will now also have the chance to easily browse the backgrounds of our state officials with the new Lawmaker Explorer online tool.'
Let’s not stop there, let’s add to that equation the ‘Lawmaker Explorer,’ which will ‘provide citizens with an in-depth look at all 180 Texas Legislature members, plus the governor and lieutenant governor.’
In a sense, Texans will be able to make sound decisions as to who actually represent them and who represents the special interests that helped them get elected. To further aid in this new discovery of lawmakers is Senate Bill 178, which ‘would force lawmakers to report all contracts they, their spouses or their close relatives have with any government entities, from state agencies all the way down to municipal offices, public universities and taxing districts,’ plus disclose their tax returns.
Rep. Joe Pickett has an answer for transparency and ethics, it goes like this, "It's hard enough being an elected official these days," he said. "I think that's way too much invasion of privacy." Out of 180 lawmakers, only two have complied with the requests.
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