Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today joined with the Democratic Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to unveil their Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. This comprehensive proposal, which includes a ban on gifts and travel provided by special interest lobbies to Congressional Members, is targeted to restore honest leadership and open government for the American people. Though Dayton believes Democrats should go even further in their reforms, he endorsed their proposal as a big step in the right direction.

“The Democratic reform bill doubles the ban on former Senators and Representatives lobbying their colleagues,” said Dayton. “It eliminates all gifts, including meals and travel, from lobbyists. And it makes it harder to trade campaign cash for legislative favors. It would start to clean up the political cesspool in Washington.”

This proposal is in response to Republican “pay to play” politics, which for years have put special interests before the priorities of the American people. This includes Representative Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) and lobbyist Grover Norquist’s “K Street Project,” which required lobbyists to give money to Republican campaigns and to hire Republican staff members, in exchange for favorable legislation and other access to the Republican Congressional Leadership.

Dayton and Democrats today also signed the Declaration for Honest Leadership, which details the Members’ commitment to “honest and open leadership” for the American people.

In addition to the gift and travel ban, the Democrats’ proposal would: require tougher and more frequent lobbyist disclosure reporting on campaign contributions and client fees; close the revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms by doubling from one year to two the period during which former Congressional staff are prohibited from lobbying their former offices; eliminate patronage appointments to public safety-related positions; and prohibit special interest provisions from being added to legislation during secret, backroom dealings, by requiring all joint House-Senate Conference Committee negotiations to be public.

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