Posted on 01/22/2012 12:29:37 PM PST by iceskater
Political newcomer Ken Vaughn is betting big on his own run for Congress.
The first-time candidate believes so strongly in the need for a new brand of leaders in Washington that, after careful consideration with his wife, he's cashed in a large chunk of his 401(k) in order to invest $100,000 in his campaign.
"It's not nearly enough to win, but it's enough to get started," he said. "It takes a lot of money to run for office, but that's what it takes and like any businessman or whatever, you have to do what the job takes."
A traffic engineer by trade, Vaughn is running for a House seat in Virginia's 11th Congressional District. If he wins the Republican primary set to take place in June, he'll take on two-term Democrat Gerald Connolly. His campaign's central issue is the national debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
But that aside, CNN was pretty fair in the article.
new legislators arrive in washington so poor they have to live in their offices. by the time they run for reelection they are millionaires. funny how that happens
I agree, that is disgraceful.
Ken has pledged to submit a bill cutting congressional salaries in half. It’s symbolic - it won’t do much to relieve our astronomical debt - and it has zero chance of passing. He knows that. He is on the record saying that if that bill fails in committee, he will donate half of his salary to charity. Knowing him, I know he will do it.
We, the people, have a job to do, too. We have a responsibility to hold their feet to the fire.
New campaigners have a tough time because they have to start from scratch. Incumbents have the left over campoaign funds from their last successful run, plus franking privileges and a better source for getting the Media behind them.
Some incumbents are sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds they got from lobbyists, PACs, and special interests they have sold out to during their stint in Congress.
After an election all campaign funds left over should be returned to the IRS to help with the debt so that all campaigners start out even.No more building treasure chests of campaign funds. We should also have term limits. It is ridiculous for a politician to spend 30 or more years in office milking the Government teat and enjoying it’s perks.
They should be subject to the same laws the rest of us are and should retire on Social Security.They should have Health care through the same Obamacare as the rest of us.
Interesting idea about zeroing out campaign war chests. The rules and regs for reporting on campaign finances are onerous (I know - that’s what I’m doing with the campaign). I can see where implementing that would be difficult and potentially subject to a lot of abuse but it’s definitely worth thinking about.
I’ll pass it along....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.