Alaskans expect their elected officials to live by the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and transparency. Unfortunately, Alaskans have been let down by their elected officials. Secret meetings, hidden favors, special access for special interests, and now convicted legislators have given Alaska a black eye. The only way to restore Alaskans trust in their elected leaders is for them to earn it.

As Anchorage mayor, Mark Begich brought greater openness to city government, putting more information on the Internet, increasing citizen participation and oversight, and making his financial statements public. Mark Begich will take to Washington the same high ethical standards he has lived by as mayor. His personal finances, daily schedule, and any family lobbying connections will be an open book.

Although Congress passed a major ethics reform bill last year, there are still many loopholes that allow special interests to unfairly influence Congress behind closed doors and allow Senators to evade accountability. Mark Begich pledges to take a new set of ethics to Washington, one that gives Alaskans a senator as independent as Alaska. It will increase public scrutiny of Congress to make sure our senators are working for Alaska families, not special or personal interests.

Mark Begich’s Alaska ethics pledge is based on three key principles:

• Ban secret meetings and make financial records easily accessible;
• Stop special treatment and protections for senators and their families; and
• Bring real accountability to congressional ethics by ending Senators’ self-policing.

Mark Begich believes all senators should abide by these principles, but he won’t wait for Congress to pass a new law. He will live by them from day one in the Senate.

1) Financial Disclosure
Problem: Under current law, senators only have to indicate income sources within broad dollar ranges – ranges that can be as broad as $20 million. Senators’ disclosures are due annually on May 15th and they can get a 90-day extension. There is hardly any penalty though if a senator misses the deadline. They are automatically granted a 30-day grace period and only assessed a one-time $200 fine. In addition, current financial disclosures are not available online or in a searchable format. Instead, Alaskans have to go to a Senate office in Washington and sign in before getting access to their senator’s financial disclosure forms. Making matters worse, financial disclosures are destroyed after six years, limiting Alaskans ability to get a full picture of a senator’s financial history.

Solution: Senators and senior senatorial staff should disclose all income and assets, down to the dollar for themselves, their spouses and dependent children. Financial disclosures should be promptly posted on the Internet in a searchable, sortable database, and remain public record permanently. The 30-day grace period should be eliminated and a much higher penalty should be imposed.

2) Lobbyist Disclosure
Problem: Recent ethics reforms helped reign in the cozy relationship between lobbyists and senators, but failed to provide enough detail to truly track what provisions lobbyists are seeking and who they are lobbying. Reforms also left the door open for Senate spouses to still lobby members if they were registered lobbyists at least one year prior to the most recent election of their spouse to office. These loopholes leave the door open for Senator’s family members to still gain personally from their close connection to the Senator. It also leaves to many unanswered questions about who is lobbying Alaska’s senators and what they are trying to get. Alaskans should be able to answer these questions without having to hunt through cumbersome files.

Solution: Lobbyists should have to report on their disclosure form the senators or committees they are lobbying, specific provisions or projects within legislation they are lobbying for, which, if any, senators or senior staff they are related to, and what provisions or projects they secured. In addition, senators should have to disclose on their website whether any of their family members are registered lobbyists and link to Senate lobbying disclosures for those family members.

3) Campaign Transparency
Problem: Although presidential and House candidates are required to file their campaign finance reports electronically, senators and Senate candidates are not. The result – Senate filings are posted later and are not in a format that can be easily searched.

Solution: Require electronic filing by Senate candidates and senators, just the same as presidential and House candidates. The FEC should be directed to make this information available in a searchable, sortable online database so the public can easily access it.

1) No Secret Meetings
Problem: Alaskans rightly feel detached from the business of the Senate. It’s hard to track who our senators are meeting with and why. There is no requirement that senators disclose who they are meeting with or what they are talking about behind closed doors.

Solution: Senators’ office appointment calendars should be posted on the Internet so the public can see exactly who their elected officials are listening to and working with.

2) No More Automatic Pay Raises While Ignoring the Minimum Wage
Problem: Alaskans don’t get to vote for their own pay raises or enjoy other special privileges, senators shouldn’t either. Currently, senators receive automatic pay raises that don’t reflect cost-of-living increases or performance. Over the last ten years, senators have received eight pay raises and yet have only increased minimum wage one time.

Solution: No pay raises for senators unless working Alaskans get a pay raise too. Senators should have to vote on each and every pay raise, out in the open and on its own. They shouldn’t be hidden in a larger bill. Any Senate pay raise should be brought to the Senate floor as a stand-alone bill, and there must first be a vote to raise the minimum wage.

3) No Secret Earmarks
Problem: Recent ethics reform legislation required that only those earmarks that make it into law be made public. It doesn’t do anything to shed light on what other special interest projects the senator may be seeking that didn’t get into legislation. Moreover, the earmark requests that are made public are available only by going in person to the Appropriations Committees’ offices in Washington, DC.

Solution: Every earmark requested by a senator should be posted online at the beginning of the annual appropriations process so that Alaskans know what – and who - their elected officials are fighting for. Senators should also disclose on whose behalf the earmark was requested and how it will benefit their constituents.

4) No Revolving Door
Problem: Recent reforms restricted former senior staff from lobbying the Senate for one year. This still allows staff to lobby their former senator after a year. Even after this waiting period, former staff can still have an inside track to their former senator and senator’s staff, often on issues that may not be in line with the best interests of the senator’s constituents.

Solution: All senate staff, no matter what level of seniority, should be prohibited from lobbying their former employer permanently.

5) No Fundraising Through Private Foundations
Problem: Senators have found ways around campaign finance restrictions by establishing private foundations that can accept lobbyist money. The lobbyists still curry favor with senators by making large donations to their foundations.

Solution: Senators may not have a controlling interest in any private foundation and may only fundraise for a foundation or non-profit organization if it is first approved by the Senate Ethics Committee and the foundation or non-profit has specified what the money raised will be used for.

1) Independent Office of Public Integrity
Problem: Congress will never truly reform so long as it keeps the sole power to investigate itself. With the fox guarding the chicken coop, violations will continue to be swept under the rug. Currently, the Senate Ethics Committee is responsible for policing senators’ behavior. Only the Ethics Committee can decide whether to conduct an ethics investigation.

Solution: In Anchorage, the city ethics board is composed of citizens. The Senate needs a similar independent authority with the power to investigate ethics complaints filed by other Senators and the public. Members of the independent Office of Public Integrity would be prohibited from political involvement with members of Congress. The board would have its own independent staff, subpoena power, and decide its own rules of procedure. Issues should come to the Senate only for final action when the board has completed its work.