Legislator Posts Votes on Facebook. All of Them

[Greg Fasolt]

Justin Amash is running for Congress as a Republican in Michigan. He's currently a state legislator. And as part of his campaign for higher office [UPDATE: He's been posting votes for a year], he's posting every one of his votes on Facebook, with a short account of why he voted the way the did. A casual visitor to Amash's page can learn that he voted against a pilot program for ignition interlocks and against an increase in the school budget. Michiganders and others can comment on the votes or the reasoning directly below the posting. Meanwhile, a quick glance at his info page shows that he's a member of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church and that his motto is the cheesy but nicely punctuated "Principled. Consistent. Conservative."

The fact that this idea is novel—his press release claims that he is the first legislator to post all of his votes on Facebook—shows how far we are from a real, voluntary culture of disclosure in our legislatures.

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/28/legislator-posts-votes-on-face