Punch Clock Project

via Sunlight Network: Punch Clock Responses.

If you are an employer, you want to know your employee is doing his job, not out back smoking crack, mugging some schmo, or getting jolly with a local hooker. Well, it seems that’s just about what some of our Congressmembers seem to have been up to.

The Punch Clock Project aims to fix that by asking every member of Congress to publish their entire, up-to-date schedule, including who they are meeting with and why, on the internet for all to see. If they are doing their job, and not sneaking around in some nefarious way, they shouldn’t have a problem with it. As one Congresswoman who has signed the Project’s pledge said, "If I don’t want constituents to know about it, I shouldn’t do it on the taxpayer’s dime." I couldn’t agree more.

I should give props to Pete Ashdown, Democrat for Senate in Utah, who had the idea long before the Sunlight Network proposed it, and made it a central part of his campaign platform. Locally, none of our candidates for Congress of either party have yet signed the pledge; in fact, most of the incumbents haven’t even been contacted. You can do that. Call your favorite, or lest favorite, candidate and ask them to sign the pledge. The material is all on the website referenced above, including how to report a response.

The only solid response from an Arizona candidate so far is from Randy Graf, who is apparently not at all interested in you knowing who he’s meeting with. His Democratic opponent, Gabby Giffords, appears to be interested and considering the idea. Call and encourage her; this is potentially yet another contrast between the candidates, as well as just being a damn fine idea to promote good, accountable government.