RESTORING TRUST

Restoring Trust in Government

Governor Huntsman believes there is a trust deficit between Americans and our important public and private institutions, which in this time of economic hardship, only exacerbates the challenges we face. People have lost trust in economic institutions, government agencies, and political leaders. 

As a first step toward immediately restoring Americans’ confidence in these entities, Governor Huntsman would send to Congress a new "Citizen Legislature Act," first put forward in the Contract With America in the 1990’s. It will propose an amendment to the Constitution imposing 12-year term limits on members of the United States Congress as follow:

• Members of the House of Representatives will be limited to six 2-year terms (12 years total).
• Members of the Senate will be limited to two 6-year terms (12 years total).

In order to ensure that government responds to all of its citizens with the same level of urgency and priority, and to lessen the influence of powerful special interests, the Act would include the following restrictions and guidelines on lobbying activities by current and former government employees and appointees, to prevent the unfair use of influence derived from their government association:

• Members of Congress and Cabinet level officers will be prohibited from lobbying their respective branch of Government for four years upon departure.
• No Congressional employee will be allowed to lobby their member’s office, or in the case of committee staff, their committee, on any issue area for which they had oversight responsibility until four years following their departure from that position of responsibility.
• Members of Congress will be permanently banned from lobbying their respective chamber regarding any issue for which they had oversight or committee responsibility.
• No executive branch employee will be allowed to lobby the agency where they worked on any issue for which they had oversight responsibility until four years following their departure from that position of responsibility.
• Cabinet level officers will be permanently banned from lobbying their respective former agencies on any issue where they had a significant responsibility.
• Both Members of Congress and cabinet level officers will have an annual financial disclosure obligation for four years upon departure from Federal government service.
• Former Members of Congress, cabinet level officers, and senior White House officials will be banned from joining any registered lobbying firm (or the private entities they represent) that actively lobbied that Member, officer, or official during their tenure in their government position of responsibility for four years upon departure.