Hodes Calls for Earmarks Reform
HODES
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jillian Jorgensen
Boston University Washington News Service
April 22, 2009
WASHINGTON—In an effort to remove “even the appearance of a conflict of interest” between congressional appropriations and campaign contributions, U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., introduced legislation Wednesday that he said would break the link between earmarks and campaign money.
“To me, this is a matter of right and wrong,” Hodes said Wednesday at a Washington press conference. “It is simply not right that legislators take campaign contributions from those they request earmarks for. It isn’t against the law now. I think it should be.”
Hodes said his office has a longstanding policy not to take campaign contributions from groups for whom he has requested federal funds for specific projects in New Hampshire – money often referred to as “earmarks.”
The congressman requested $227,764,731 in earmarks for New Hampshire for fiscal 2010, according to his office, including requests for projects involving BAE Systems, Inc., Keene State College and the iRobot Corporation.
Hodes introduced the Clean Law for Earmark Accountability Reform (CLEAR) Act with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
The legislation would prohibit lawmakers from taking contributions from senior executives, lobbyists or company-specific Political Action Committees of groups or entities for whom the lawmaker had requested an earmark.
“I was a practicing attorney for many years, and one of the ethical maxims that we lived by was to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. This law will help lawmakers avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said.
The move comes days after U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D.-Pa., faced scrutiny in the press for the large amount of earmarks he has requested for groups and companies that have donated generously to his campaign.
“I really, for my part, did not have any particular member in mind,” Hodes said.
Hodes, who said he supports an ethics investigation into the connection between earmarks and campaign contributions, said the law would build upon ethics reforms to the earmark process that have been enacted over the last several years.
“We have … worked steadily for a number of years on more accountability, more transparency, more openness, in dealing with earmarks. We took steps in the last Congress, we took significant steps in this Congress. And I think the time is right that we take this next step. And I think this is a very important step,” he said.
Hodes said he expected the bill to have support from many Republicans.
“This piece of legislation really is not a partisan effort and not a partisan piece of legislation,” he said.
Hodes said he thought voters in the state would support the legislation.
“New Hampshire is a very independent place. We have a reputation for independence. I think we also have a reputation for integrity,” Hodes said after the press conference. “I am very privileged to represent people who care about openness, transparency, accountability, integrity. And they have high expectations of their representatives in that regard. I think it is the right thing to do. And people in New Hampshire have a pretty good sense of what the right thing to do is.”
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