Better Government Association

A click away: Bill would make it easier to see how reps vote

By KATE SCHOTT and KEVIN P. CRAVER

May 30, 2008

People curious about how their U.S. representatives vote on certain issues will have an easier time finding that information online if a recently introduced bill becomes law.

U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat, announced at a Thursday news conference her Voting Record Transparency Act, which she filed in the House last week.

If House Resolution 1222 is approved, the Clerk of the House will have to list individual voting records for all House members, who will have to link to them on any taxpayer-funded official Web sites.

Such information already is available - but by roll-call vote, meaning that constituents must examine voting records by individual bills, not by House member.

Bean said sorting through voting records by issue is cumbersome in an electronic age.

“Why is it easier to get a consumer guide to a home appliance or consumer electronics ... than it is to see if your representative is voting in a way that represents your values?” Bean said.

Shannon O'Brien, communications director for U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, said the congressman hadn't read the proposed legislation but in general is a “strong supporter of transparency” in government.

“Congressman Foster may co-sponsor the legislation once he's read it,” O'Brien said Thursday during a phone interview. “We do look to (Melissa Bean) as a leader as champion transparency in government reform.”

The proposed measure would apply only to the House and not the Senate.

Bean was joined Thursday by Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based watchdog group. Stewart said there was no logical reason to be opposed to the bill because it presents information that already is public record into a more understandable format.

“This is a transparency issue,” Stewart said. “To me, it's a bedrock principle that you should have as much information as possible as to what public officials are doing in your name with your tax dollars.”

Both Bean and Stewart said another advantage to the bill was that the voting records through the Clerk of the House would be unfiltered, unlike congressional “report cards” issued by third-party groups.

Rich Carter, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, said Manzullo believes government needs to be more transparent. And legislators do cast a lot of votes: In 2007, the House had 1,186 roll-call votes, according to Carter, and has had 366 roll-call votes so far in 2008.

But Manzullo would like to know what else Bean intends to include on the search engine, Carter said.

“We would want it to be more than just the name of the bill,” Carter said. “A lot of the time the name can be extremely misleading. A lot of times, he may support a bill but not the things tacked onto it.”

There was, for instance, recent legislation that would extend tax deductions, Carter said. But it also included $57 billion in tax increases, he added, which is why Manzullo voted against it.

“We want to make sure it's comprehensive and fully explains exactly what the vote is so as to not mislead the public,” Carter added.