{"id":21,"date":"2023-05-02T21:58:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T21:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trudybuschvalentine.com\/?p=21"},"modified":"2023-11-30T00:45:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T00:45:54","slug":"ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thrilltalks.com\/ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Getting corporate money out of politics and promoting good government <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t need to tell you that Washington is badly broken. We all see that every day. It\u2019s full of too many career politicians who are there for their own gain. They attend high-dollar fundraisers with lobbyists at fancy restaurants, enjoy luxury trips sponsored by corporate interest groups, and then vote in their favor instead of putting the needs of their constituents first. After they leave office, they go to work as lobbyists to boost their bank accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We pay the price. There\u2019s a reason Congress won\u2019t cap insulin costs at $35 a month for working families, crack down on price-gouging corporations to protect Missourians, or take real action to invest in affordable housing to help working families get by. And it\u2019s got a lot to do with the nearly $4 billion that was spent lobbying Congress last year alone.[1] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all had enough. I joined this race because I was tired of seeing things get worse for working families while politicians sit in Washington getting so little done. There\u2019s too much corporate money in Washington. We need to make Congress an institution that works for the people again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m running against a career politician who, if elected, will fit right into Washington politics as usual. Eric Schmitt has been paid roughly $1 million in salary and benefits by Missouri taxpayers, and he\u2019s spent that time living on the public dime. He\u2019s taken more than $10,000 in gifts from Missouri lobbyists, including golf outings, expensive meals, and sports tickets. Lobbyists for drug companies Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Bristol-Myers Squibb took him to dinner. AT&T and Express Scripts took him golfing. He even got an annual Christmas ham from the lobbyist for one of the largest Chinese-owned companies in Missouri.[2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And all that time he\u2019s worked against Missourians, voting to protect the profits of his drug industry backers,[3] suing to let his health insurance supporters charge Missouri women and seniors more for their care,[4] and even voting twice to let Chinese companies buy up Missouri farmland.[5] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schmitt knows that the perks are even better in Washington, and he doesn\u2019t care if he has to vote lobbyists\u2019 way to take advantage. It\u2019s time to put an end to those perks \u2013 for Eric Schmitt and everyone else in Congress. This plan is my promise to do just that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Senate, I\u2019ll work to pass a lifetime ban to prevent members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, ban corporate PACs from flooding our political system with special interest money, and ban foreign corporations and governments from hiring lobbyists to sway lawmakers\u2019 votes. I\u2019ll publish my calendar publicly so Missourians can see exactly what I\u2019m meeting with \u2013 and who I\u2019m not. I\u2019ll work to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks or put all stocks in a blind trust, ban Congressional family members from being paid by lobbying firms, and put a stop to the practice of special interest groups paying for lawmakers to go on fancy trips that are often little more than luxury vacations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, I\u2019ll put Missourians first and be nobody\u2019s Senator but yours. And by passing this plan, we\u2019ll make sure the rest of Congress can say the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting corporate money out of politics <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 Trudy will fight for a lifetime ban on members of Congress from lobbying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 In the Senate, Trudy will work to ban all corporate PACs <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 In the Senate, Trudy will make her schedule public and push legislation that would require members of Congress to publish their office calendars and detail who they\u2019re meeting with <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 Trudy will work to ban foreign corporations and governments from hiring lobbyists <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoting good government <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 Trudy will sponsor legislation to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks, or place all stocks in a blind trust <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 <\/strong>In the Senate, Trudy will support efforts to ban leadership PACs, which have become vehicles for lawmakers to spend corporate contributions on personal expenses <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 Trudy will introduce legislation to ban the family of members of Congress from receiving income from lobbying firms <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u27a2 Trudy will crack down on third-party groups funding trips for Members of Congress as a way to influence their votes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] Total Spending & Lobbyists \u2013 2021, Center for Responsive Politics <\/em>
[2] Lobbyist Expense \u2013 Public Official, Missouri Ethics Commission <\/em>
[3] Vote to pass SBs 63 and 111, Missouri Senate Journal. P. 724, 4\/2\/15; SB 875, Missouri State Senate, 01\/11\/2016<\/em>
[4] \u201cKansas and Missouri AGs on the losing side as Supreme Court upholds Obamacare \u2014 again.\u201d Kansas City Star, 6\/17\/21<\/em>
[5] Vote to pass SB 9, Missouri Senate Journal, P 1992, 5\/16\/13; Vote to override veto of SB 9, Missouri Senate Journal, P 1992, 9\/11\/13<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting corporate money out of politics and promoting good government  I don\u2019t need to tell you that Washington is badly broken. We all see that every day. It\u2019s full of too many career politicians who are there for their own gain. They attend high-dollar fundraisers with lobbyists at fancy restaurants, enjoy luxury trips sponsored by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"spectra_custom_meta":{"rank_math_seo_score":["9"],"rank_math_internal_links_processed":["1"],"_edit_last":["1"],"rank_math_primary_category":["4"],"_wp_old_slug":["government-ethics"],"rank_math_analytic_object_id":["40"],"astra_style_timestamp_css":["1712141463"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:263:\".uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-desktop) !important}@media (max-width: 976px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-tablet) !important}}@media (max-width: 767px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-mobile) !important}}\n\";s:2:\"js\";s:0:\"\";s:18:\"current_block_list\";a:7:{i:0;s:14:\"core\/paragraph\";i:1;s:15:\"core\/categories\";i:2;s:11:\"core\/search\";i:3;s:10:\"core\/group\";i:4;s:12:\"core\/heading\";i:5;s:17:\"core\/latest-posts\";i:6;s:21:\"wpforms\/form-selector\";}s:8:\"uag_flag\";b:0;s:11:\"uag_version\";s:10:\"1712121664\";s:6:\"gfonts\";a:0:{}s:10:\"gfonts_url\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"gfonts_files\";a:0:{}s:14:\"uag_faq_layout\";b:0;}"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-21.css"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ThrillTalks","author_link":"https:\/\/thrilltalks.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Getting corporate money out of politics and promoting good government  I don\u2019t need to tell you that Washington is badly broken. 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