A lot of people get elected to Congress, and sometimes a part of their pledge is a term-limit pledge. There's no accountability.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
But in this Congress, accountability is just a catch phrase, usually directed elsewhere. Demands to personal responsibility or corporate accountability abound, but rarely congressional accountability or fiscal responsibility.
And on this you have my pledge - unlike in the past, when you stood up and did what was right, this governor will not pull the rug out from underneath you - I will sign strong reform bills.
In view of our public pledges, we public officials can never again go before the public merely promising election reform. The time for promises is past.
Twenty-five years ago, I created the Taxpayer Protection Pledge at the federal level. Then I brought it to the state and local level. About 97 percent of the Republicans in the House and 85 percent in the Senate have signed on, and the number of candidates who have taken the pledge is even higher. It's become a party position.
It is a pledge that senility has not the last say in everything.
The Pledge clearly acknowledges the fact that our freedoms in this country come from God, not government.
When you're elected to Congress, you take a vow to uphold the Constitution and its system of checks and balances. That vow doesn't say, 'Unless it's politically uncomfortable.'
If a man breaks a pledge, the public ought to know it.
Governor, why wouldn't anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?
Certainly accountability of government is what people are clamoring for; they want to know that when lawmakers make a promise or a proposal, you can actually accomplish it.