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Freedom Foundation releases new tool to help citizens hold legislators accountable |
Olympia – The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has announced the release of a new tool to help citizens hold legislators accountable for their actions. The Informed Voter Guide reviews more than a dozen bills passed this session on the state’s most important issues and indicates how state representatives and senators voted on these key bills.
Citizens will be able to quickly reference their legislators’ personal voting records. They can also see where each falls on the Foundation’s “Hey, Big Spender!” list, which shows legislators who sponsored tax or fee increase bills in the 2010 legislative session.
“One of the greatest rights and responsibilities we have as citizens is selecting the people who will represent us in our governing bodies. By voting, we are delegating our sovereign power to others and trusting that they will use it responsibly. We voters are on the hook for making sure they do govern responsibly,” says Lasse Lund, Director of the Citizen Action Network at the Freedom Foundation.
In addition, the guide gives citizens a series of essential questions to ask incumbents and challengers for elective office.
The Freedom Foundation stresses that this is a non-partisan project. “Our goal in this effort is to educate citizens about who they elected into office, and what decisions they made while they were there. We simply want citizens to hold their legislators accountable, whether that is through praise or criticism,” says Lund.
A PDF copy of the guide can be found at www.informedvoterguide.com.
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