May 31—CONCORD — Second Congressional District Democratic hopeful Colin Van Ostern of Concord proposed a five-point reform agenda to end dark money in political campaigns, ban stock trading by members of Congress and require states to have non-partisan redistricting.
Van Ostern’s plan would also change federal law to ban for-profit companies from creating political action committees and require all members of Congress to publish their professional schedules to include any meetings with lobbyists.
“Our job is to fix Washington, not just fall into line with the existing, broken system,” Van Ostern said. “Let’s put our money where our mouth is and push for real change to put people first again in our nation’s capital.”
The proposal is the first policy brief from Democrats seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, who is not seeking a seventh two-year term this fall.
Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Becky Whitley of Hopkinton and former U.S. Justice Department executive Maggie Goodlander of Nashua are also running in the Sept. 10 primary.
Over the past decade, Van Ostern said nearly 100 members of Congress had violated the STOCK Act, which was designed to stop insider training that has proven to be an inadequate reform.
Van Ostern said he supports existing bills known as the TRUST Act (HR 336) or the Ban Conflicted Trading Act (HR 1579) to advance this goal.
He said special interest groups should be required to disclose major donors so the public knows how tens of millions of dollars get spent to try and influence federal elections.
If elected, Van Ostern said he’d pursue overturning the Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court by promoting a constitutional amendment to give the state and federal governments the power to control spending on elections.
Regarding redistricting, Van Ostern pointed out that he represented on the Executive Council what became known as a “Dragon District” the Republican-led Legislature adopted in 2011 that spanned the entire width of the state of New Hampshire.
Van Ostern said he supports the For The People Act that would require states to use independent redistricting commissions, including a mix of Democrats, Republicans, and independents and a requirement that maps must not be drawn for partisan advantage.
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