On Sept. 27, 1994, more than 300 conservatives stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and endorsed Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, "to restore accountability to Congress," and "to end its cycle of scandal and disgrace." The image of reform they broadcast helped rocket them into power.

Fast-forward ten years. Today, government has been handed over to corporate lobbyists.

Together, we must fight back. We progressives are - and always have been - the real reformers and defenders of democracy. In our fight to take back America, we need to make the case that the kind of corruption Tom DeLay, and others like him, engage in is not the exception to the rule - it's the rule itself. We need to hold those corrupt individuals accountable.

Here's another example: Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) who, like DeLay, has repeatedly put lobbyists first and the American people second. Tomorrow, we're running ads in the newspapers of the two largest cities in his Ohio congressional district, exposing his corruption to tens of thousands of people.

Please contribute what you can to our campaign for a more accountable Congress and against Rep. Bob Ney.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=96602

Rep. Ney is emblematic of everything that's wrong with Washington. He uses the power of his office to do favors for influence peddlers that have nothing to do with his voters back in Ohio. What kinds of favors? When a Texas Indian tribe wanted to open a casino, tribal leaders sent him on a luxury trip to Scotland and give him more than $30,000 in campaign donations. When a Washington lobbyist wanted to buy a Florida gambling cruise line, he gave Bob Ney the biggest campaign contribution the law allows and Ney, in return, used the power of his office to put pressure on the cruise-line's owner to sell. When a foreign company wanted to sell planes in the Middle East, its lobbyists flew Bob Ney to London to gamble with them. All of this wheeling and dealing has linked Ney to some of the most notorious corporate lobbyists in Washington, and it's gotten him in hot water.

Who is Bob Ney supposed to work for? The citizens of his district, of course, not some lobbyist who wants to buy a casino in Florida. Where should he be focusing his job-creation efforts? On the working families in Ohio, not on an Indian tribe in Texas. Who pays his salary? We, the American people, do. Who pays for the phone he uses to talk to his lobbyist friends? We, the people, do. Rep. Bob Ney: another out-of-touch politician wasting our tax dollars to fulfill the wishes of lobbyists while the real needs of our country go unaddressed.

Help us hold him accountable. Help us make the case, as Gingrich and his self-proclaimed "revolutionaries" did a decade ago, that Washington is corrupt and out of touch with the real challenges facing America.

Help us fund our ad campaign. Contribute today.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=96602

If you're as sick and tired of the corruption as we are then join us in the fight. This is our democracy and it is our obligation to make sure that it works for the people - not the lobbyists.

It's not just Tom DeLay, it's Bob Ney too. Learn more about Bob Ney's corruption.

http://action.ourfuture.org/ctt.asp?u=1742757&l=96608

Thank you very much for all your help.

Sincerely,

Ellen Miller, Deputy Director
Campaign for America's Future