As a legally elected representative of the people, and in order to show that I have their interests in mind as I write, sponsor, co-sponsor and vote on legislation, I pledge the following:
- I will not copy legislation wholesale from any partisan organization;
- I will not vote the “party line” in lockstep with others of my party merely because they are members of my party;
- I will take only actions that either benefit or cause no harm to my constituents, regardless of those constituents’ age, income, education level, party affiliation, union membership or other characteristic;
- I will not offer enormous tax breaks to businesses and corporations, ever;
- I will not issue press releases simply to call other elected representatives names;
- I will not introduce legislation that is empty and devoid of content, other than the very occasional recognition of bravery or other meritorious acts by one or more of my constituents;
- I will have a vision for the future;
- I will not take myself too seriously;
- I will listen to my constituents equally, not giving more weight to anyone based on how much they contributed to my election campaign or might give to my re-election campaign;
- I will not say I am working on the behalf of “the taxpayers” if there is no evidence that what I am doing is actually beneficial to the taxpayers;
- I will not lie;
- I will do everything in my power to bring about campaign finance reform, starting with the reversal of Citizens United and the declaration that corporations are in no way “people”;
- I will obey the law, adhere to procedural and parliamentary rules and conduct myself ethically at all times;
- I will acknowledge my errors and apologize appropriately to those I have wronged;
- I will be utterly transparent in everything I do as an elected official and will be available and answerable to my constituents; and
- I will be educated and intelligent about matters I am addressing through legislation and will educate myself about matters my colleagues are pursuing.
Further, I recognize that I work for the people of my city/county/district/state/nation, and that those people pay my salary and benefits.
I am honored to have been elected to represent the people of my city/county/district/state/nation and will serve their interests not just until the next election, but for the long term. I will work to ensure that the quality of life for my constituents is continually improving.
Sincerely,
Dated this first day of office
Every elected official should be compelled to sign such a document, and to have the signature notarized. But I think you should rank order the items, with “I will not lie” much higher on the list, and “I will obey the law” not far behind.
This was just stream of consciousness. The ranking order could definitely be improved.
I *am* going to send this to my elected representatives after Tuesday’s elections.