Contact: Sean Sarah
Communications Director
Sam Rasoul for Congress
Cell: 330 338-3740
E-Mail: sean@samrasoul.us
PRESS RELEASE 9/15/2008
Rasoul Pledges To Serve Only Five Terms When Elected To Congress
Roanoke, Va. America's youngest Congressional candidate, Sam Rasoul, has pledged to serve only ten years in Congress if he is elected. When asked why he took the pledge, Mr. Rasoul replied, "Over their long careers many incumbents have fostered ties with special interests that help fund their campaigns and give them an advantage no challenger could ever hope to have. Simple fairness in our Democratic system is called for if we are going to rid our legislature of influence peddlers."
In fact, Mr. Rasoul has gone one step further than simply pledging to reform Congress, he's running his campaign the way he would like to reform Washington. He takes no money from Political Action Committees, lobbyists, unions, or even political parties. All of his income comes from the every day citizens he is seeking to serve.
Over the course of the campaign, Mr. Rasoul has avoided attacks on his opponent and instead focused on a platform of reform. The campaign is spreading the word one door and one phone call at a time. The campaign is claiming that it has knocked on over 25,000 doors across the district. With a month and a half to go until the election, it seems Mr. Rasoul's message of reform and responsibility is catching on across the district.
For the full Rasoul statement on government accountability and responsibility, please read below.
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Sam Rasoul Makes Pledge to Serve 5 Terms
We are blessed to live in a republic where, every few years, we get to choose the batch of folks who will represent us in Richmond and in DC. The founders of our country were hoping for a citizen legislature where representatives would come to Washington, serve their people and then head back home to their real jobs and families. But, this idyllic theory of a country run by citizens for the benefit of its citizens has become a myth. Special interests, career politicians and influential political action committees have taken away the voice of everyday people like you and I.
When political action committees spend millions on smearing candidates from both sides of the isle, special interests spend all of their time making sure elected officials are doing anything but serving the people. Still, career politicians continue to play ball with them. How can we expect our representatives to stand up for us? Critical reform is needed if we are ever going to get the support we need from Washington. Not only is that why I'm running for Congress, it's also why I have pledged to serve only five terms as a Congressman. While in DC I will focus on reforming the government in order to make it more responsive to the people with two major pieces of legislation.
Harry Truman once said that limiting the terms of Representatives and Senators would help "cure senility and seniority - both terrible legislative diseases." With some representatives in their nineties and some who feel like they have been there for ninety years, I have to say I think President Truman was right on the mark. This is why one of the first bills I will introduce when I am elected to Congress will be one that sets strict term limits on members of both Houses. For more than a century and half, turn over in Congress had been well over fifty percent. In fact, it's only been in the last few decades that incumbency rates have sky rocketed into the 90's. The reason is simple, over their long careers many incumbents have fostered ties with special interests that help fund their campaigns and give them name recognition that no challenger could ever hope to attain. Simple fairness in our democratic system is called for if we are to return to a true system of citizen legislators free of influence peddlers who drown out the needs of everyday citizens.
But, to be fair, our representatives were the corrupted ones, victims of a system that has turned away from the needs and values of regular folks and instead focuses primarily on greed. It is the lobbyists and special interest groups that pervade national politics who serve as the real corrupter in the fall of American democracy. This election season, nearly 150 lobbyists work for the presidential campaigns and thousands more work on elections across the country. Influence peddling and back room deals for special considerations have become the norm. That is why I take no money from PAC's, special interests, or political parties and why, when I am elected to Congress I will join with my colleagues in pushing for public financing of federal elections. It is imperative that we get the Government working for us again and the only way to do that is to make it stop working lobbyists.
Our country is at a crossroads. If we continue down the path we are on, the voice of everyday Americans will continue to diminish as it faces an increasing onslaught of well funded special interests working only for their own good. But, we could choose another path; we could choose to "throw the bums out" as the saying goes, by implementing fair and ethical reforms to the way our government does business. I, for one, think that we can win in against the billions spent by special interests. My pledge to serve only five terms comes from my belief that it is time for a new voice in Congress, a voice that is accountable only to the people of this district. I hope you'll join me in making this a reality.
Paid for and Authorized by Sam Rasoul for Congress
