Oath of Presidential Transparency
Reason Foundation and a bipartisan group of over 30 other organizations asked all of the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates to sign a pledge promising that, if elected, they would deliver the most transparent presidency in history and guaranteeing the executive branch would adhere to the concepts of Open Government. The candidates who signed the oath were: Sen. Barack Obama (D–Illinois), Rep. Ron Paul (R–Texas), Sen. Sam Brownback (R–Kansas), former Sen. Mike Gravel (D–Alaska), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D–Ohio), Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, and John Cox.
Reason Foundation's Vice-President of Research Adrian Moore said of the oath, "The next president should be committed to transparency and accountability. Redesigning the federal government so that it is more accountable to taxpayers is a nonpartisan issue. Transparency will help produce a government focused on results instead of our current system, which is plagued by secrecy, wasteful spending and pork projects."
Then-Senator Barack Obama echoed those sentiments saying, "Every American has the right to know how the government spends their tax dollars, but for too long that information has been largely hidden from public view. This historic law will lift the veil of secrecy in Washington and ensure that our government is transparent and accountable to the American people."
Reason posted the signed oaths on its website.
Read more about this topic: Reason Foundation
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