Petition Background Mid 2013, news reporter Mr. Mike Baker (AP) wrote “Washington ethics law allows public officials to accept free meals on ‘infrequent occasions.’ But the biggest beneficiary of lobbyist expense accounts received meals, drinks or golf on 62 occasions over the first four months of the year.” After reading about lawmakers’ voracious appetites I filed a formal complaint with the Washington State Legislative Ethics Board. I named the entire Washington State Legislature in my complaint. In response, the Ethics Board scheduled four public hearings to define the term “infrequent occasions”. Huge victory! The first three public hearings focused discussion on the number of free meals that would be allowed lawmakers a year. At the third hearing on August 19th a preliminary vote limited free meals for lawmakers to twelve a year. The fourth and possibly final hearing scheduled on Tuesday, October 14th will focus on whether to create a reporting system to account for the twelve free meals. The Ethics Board is currently seeking public input regarding the right of the public to know, through a reporting system, who is buying meals for their representatives. They need to hear people care about this issue. 6-16-14 Seattle Times’ Posted by Thanh Tan on editorial board blog: “To avoid the appearance of being influenced by lobbyists with deep pockets and fine dining tastes, lawmakers absolutely should track and reveal when they accept free meals, and lobbyists should do the same. Those records should be accessible to the public, too. I’m talking about an easily searchable database via the Public Disclosure Commission; something better than the handwritten, scanned PDF files that are currently filed by special interest groups on the PDC’s website.” I have been working to raise awareness of hunger in our state and our nation. When I read that some of our lawmakers freely accept gifts of food while being less than generous in fully funding emergency feeding programs, it felt like a betrayal. Members of the legislature are paid a per diem of $120 a day to cover their expenses while in session. This live link takes you to a video of the Ethics Board hearing on 8-19-14 regarding free meals for Washington State lawmakers. http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014080036 6/1/13 – Seattle Times: “Olympia lobbyists pampering lawmakers with free meals” http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021104631_freemealsxml.html 7/30/13 - Seattle Times Editorial: “Legislative probe should spur more transparency”. http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2021497459_editethicsinvestigation29xml.html 8/21/14 – Seattle Times – Danny Westneat - Some legislators have an insatiable hunger for free meals http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024371423_westneat24xml.html

We must support this...pass it on and lets see if these idiots understand what people pressure is all about. Salary of retired US Presidents . . . . . . . . . . . $180,000 FOR LIFE Salary of House/Senate members . . . . . . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE This is stupid Salary of Speaker of the House . . . . . . . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE This is really stupid Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders . . . . . . . . $193,400 FOR LIFE Ditto last line Average Salary of a teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $40,065 Average Salary of a deployed Soldier . . . . . .. . $38,000 I think we found where the cuts should be made! If you agree pass it on, I just did. Warren Buffet, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. Congressional Reform Act of 2014 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/31/14. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

I have become extremely discontented with the senseless, blatant, vicious beatings and killings by law enforcement. These are the citizens that they have sworn to serve and protect. I as a human being and citizen can no longer sit idly by while this deplorable conduct continues without any accountability.

They have removed court reporters out of the family court rooms. This is very important to have court reporters back in our family courts. There have been very biased cases regarding the way judges are treating people in family court.

Despite last week's ruling in favor of Democrat Chad Taylor to remove his name from the ballot, allowing a two-way race between Republican Senator Pat Roberts and Independent Greg Orman, Kansas Secretary of State, and member of Pat Roberts re-election campaign committee, Kris Kobach is attempting to confuse overseas voters into not voting by placing a disclaimer on their ballots in regards to their vote not being valid if the empty Democratic slot is filled. Kobach is therefore doing nothing short of tampering with the election and purposely acting against a Supreme Court ruling. We must stand up against this corruption and rid our government of such elected officials. We can do this through the power of the vote, and must therefore protect and defend our right to vote... even from the very person who was elected to protect it for us.

Gerrymandering is a major cause of dysfunction in our government. That affects all of us! There is legislation pending in Pennsylvania; however, if it is not passed during this legislative session pressure on our legislators should continue.

Most voters feel one of the most important pieces of information about a ballot measure is who's spending money trying to pass or defeat it. But that information is virtually impossible to find. SB 844 (Pavley) will make it easy to see who's spending money for and against California propositions by requiring the Secretary of State to create an online page with the total amount raised and the top ten funders for and against each one. The official ballot pamphlet will include a link to the page to make it easy to find. Any day now, Governor Brown will decide whether to sign or veto SB 844. Please urge the Governor to sign it, and then share the petition with your friends.

I believe the Great Spirit has shown me this vision. The Native American Counsel of Nations assuming our government in peace and equality and caring for mother earth. I am of German descent. I am going to California in October to speak with the Chief of the Tule River Tribe and it would be a blessing to have signatures, that will be a revelation for the Natives to understand our forgiveness and desperation as our government continues to send our children to foreign lands to secure the 'investments' of the elite few.

My husband is incarcerated in Michigan. Our family dearly misses him, and cherishes every moment we have together. He has started a petition for all inmates who would also like to have over night family contact visits approved. Anyone that does a Family Visit or stay over night has to pay. This is not just from me, this is about everyone in the United States that misses their loved ones. What would this do for the inmates or the visitors? First it will give them life again and not be so violent, second it will help with cost, third people will start doing what they have to do to come home. Inside the prison world it's hard to survive because you have to deal with so much. If you get time with your loved one and overnight stays, you're more worried about staying out of trouble so you can have your visit, and not get it taken away from you if you do get into trouble. I think this would be a great idea because it will help in funds and also give inmates more reason to work on their behavior issues as well as not giving up on themselves as they will have a chance to work toward spending time with their children and wife. All I'm asking is for you to consider this not only for the inmates but for the families who have a long time to be without their loved ones. Family is the most important thing when serving a sentence for a crime. Without communication by letters, phone calls, and visitation, inmates would be more aggressive and violent against each other and officers. I believe that if state prisons allow conjugal visits for married inmates that it would be logical to allow those types of visits in state and federal prisons as well. This type of bonding promotes healthy relationships and morale. Federal inmates have to serve around 85% of their entire prison sentence. Where as state prisons usually serve 50-65% and gain time sometimes for good behavior to get early release. Since this is not the case for State and Federal inmates, then why not pass a bill to allow conjugal visits for State and Federal inmates? The question of whether or not prison is intended to rehabilitate - rather than to merely punish - deserves the scrutiny of all Americans who might one day be affected by the answer. Yes, many agree that it would be a privilege to have these visits when incarcerated. For those who believe that isolation is a way of rehabilitation I would like to say there is absolutely nothing rehabilitating about restricting inmates from intimacy with their spouses. If the visits should require monitoring to be considered safe then, in my opinion, by all means monitor. Conjugal visits will allow for longer, faithful marriages and healthier relationships. Honestly, I think that every inmate's case is different and conjugal visits should be considered accordingly. Please sign, and share this very important petition, so that we can get as many signatures as possible. Thank you to all of you for your love/support/help.

We support keeping the Shrewsbury MA mail processing plant open and maintaining the strongest public post office in Massachusetts.

As an Arkansas voter, I want my vote to show our state candidates why they must support comprehensive immigration reform, the DREAM Act, improved education for all children, and driver’s licenses for all Arkansas residents. With my vote, I want to see these reforms become real this year because we, as a state, can't wait and stand by while local families and communities continue to suffer. Arkansas has proudly doubled the immigrant and New American vote since 2010, and I plan to help our state do it again in 2014, both through my vote and that of all of the voters I will register and take with me to the polls this November 4th.

I think Congress is forgetting something, and with just days before they leave Capitol Hill to campaign, I need your help to remind them: "Congress: Isn't it your job to help grow the middle class?" I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot from these same politicians about how they fight for the middle class and stand up to special interests. But words are one thing, and actions are another. It's time for them to show us they are serious about creating jobs and closing tax loopholes. Time for them to stop protecting companies like Burger King who flee the U.S. to dodge taxes, and instead stand up for the millions of Americans who just want a decent shot at a good job and a high-quality education. Legislation to create 1.9 million jobs, improve schools and reduce poverty -- paid for by taking on special interests and their massive tax breaks -- has been pending for months and months without any action. We think this is something every member of Congress needs to support if they expect us to take them seriously when they claim to be for the middle class.