Newsletter - April 2024

My first two good government principles, free and fair elections and providing voters essential information, focus on electing legislators that reflect our views and meet our expectations.

My third principle, commitment to problem solving, focuses on how we'd like our elected legislators to do their job. Too often politics gets in the way of producing meaningful legislation designed to address difficult problems. Remember the failure to pass the "grand bargain" in 2011, which would've shored up Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and greatly reduced our federal deficit. Or immigration reform, an issue that presidents from both parties have also failed to address, despite its growing importance to voters.

The recent bipartisan legislation on foreign aid, although a very messy and lengthy process, is a positive example of members of Congress working together to produce meaningful legislation. A big contributor to this successful outcome was respect for each other's priorities shown by members on both sides of the aisle. More on "respect" next month!

One of the recommendations that resonated with me from this article on pragmatic problem solving is to "begin with agreeing on the problem, not the policy outcome you desire." Too often, our elected representatives are more interested in promoting their agenda than addressing the problem at hand.

Effective problem solving requires defining the problem to be solved, followed by a good faith effort to solve that problem. As voters, we need to demand such a commitment from our elected officials and need to applaud and recognize those in Congress like the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that has stated their commitment to advancing common-sense solutions to key issues facing our nation.

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It has been a busy and productive last several weeks for Speak Up for Good Government.

I was able to facilitate an introduction between Braver Angels and Voice of the People. Both organizations are doing outstanding work, and I believe there are opportunities for synergies between the two organizations.

Over at the Center for Electoral Quality and Integrity, we launched a website , which includes functionality for election officials, election experts, and voters to review and provide online feedback to our Operations System map.

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This month's social media posts:

• Information about the Problem Solvers Caucus

• An article from PolitiFact that investigates whether the current Congress is the least productive

• Bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive data privacy framework

• An opinion piece on pragmatic problem solving

Thanks for reading and sharing this newsletter with others. Have a great month!

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Newsletter - March 2024

The second of my good government principles is Accurate and Unbiased Voter Info.

Free and fair elections, which I highlighted in last month's newsletter, are the foundation of our democracy. Ensuring all voters have access to the information they need on issues and candidates builds upon that foundation.

Much of the information we are inundated with is misleading and/or requires context and a critical eye. For that reason, a critical aspect of my accurate and unbiased information principle is ensuring every voter has the resources necessary to spot misinformation and disinformation.

With a bit of effort, we can find the information on candidates and issues we need to guide our voting decisions. However, most people don't have the time or the desire to expend the effort required to get that information.

The challenge of wading through the information we are bombarded with and the challenge of finding the data we need can be frustrating and causes many people to tune out and/or too readily accept and amplify information that sounds good or confirms personal biases.

Fortunately, some states and counties provide voter guides that provide balanced information on candidates and issues on the ballot. Here's an outstanding voter guide that was produced for the 2020 election by the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico.

Voter guides should be standard practice in all states and counties, and should be an expectation of all voters.

The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides both risks and benefits. We've all heard about the increasing risks of AI generated deep fakes, etc. But AI also provides the prospect of easier access to critical information on candidates and issues through improved search engines and/or AI guided searches. I will be paying close attention to this issue, and share, as applicable in the coming months.

This month's posts:

• A side-by-side comparison of left, center, and right coverage of the State of the Union speech

• Information about Civic Learning Week

• Find Facts Fast - a free text message course designed to help Americans of all ages and backgrounds separate online fact from online fiction

• The Central New Mexico League of Women Voters Voter Guide

Have a great month!

Newsletter - February 2024

Congress is responsible for funding appropriations and for passing legislation designed to address the critical problems vexing our society. Solutions to these critical problems aren't easy, but funding appropriations and passing legislation should be the easy part. Unfortunately, Congress is frequently unable to do the "easy part," failing to conduct basic business like passing a budget and keeping the government open.

In last month's newsletter, I shared my vision and my expectations of Congress. In support of that vision, I developed eight good government principles that provide a foundation for Congress to meet those expectations. Over the course of this year, I will review each principle, and articulate why each principle is critical to the effectiveness of our Legislative branch.

The first of my good government principles is free and fair elections for all. Given that we are in the midst of an election year, this principle is particularly salient. In his 1960 State of the Union speech, President Eisenhower said, "In the long perspective of history, the right to vote has been one of the strongest pillars of a free society. Our first duty is to protect this right against all encroachment."

Voter trust of Congress is at all time low, with many voters feeling that their legislators aren't working for them.

Having a Congress that truly represents us and meets our expectations starts with representative districts, secure elections, and easy access to the ballot box.

My work with the Center for Electoral Quality and Integrity is designed to support the work of election officials and increase voter confidence by providing an objective framework for evaluating election operations. We are spending much of this year soliciting input from election officials and election experts on whether the Operations System map that we developed with the support of a small group of election officials and election experts, accurately reflects the key activities necessary for free and fair elections.

I encourage you to share the Operations System map with local election officials and get back to me with their feedback and recommendations.

There are a number of other outstanding organizations doing great work to support and safeguard our elections. You can find links to several of them in the resources section of my Elections principle.

Social media posts this month:

• Issue One's latest installment of Faces of Democracy. The series highlights election officials and the heroic work they do to protect our democracy.

• Voice of the People's public consultation on government and elections, which highlights voting reforms and election integrity reforms supported by bipartisan majorities.

• Information on how one Ohio college is working to make politics "saner"

• Impact of funding delays on election administration

Have a great month!