Senate candidate Seth Bodnar (I) release policy and reform agenda

MISSOULA, Mont. - Independent Senate candidate Seth Bodnar has released his policy reform agenda, giving us a deeper look at what he hopes to change in Washington if elected.

Bodnar now formally says he will not caucus with either party in the Senate. That’s different than other Independent that currently hold off.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, caucuses with the Democrats and previously used their party infrastructure to run for president, Senator Angus King of Maine another Independent also caucuses with the Democrats.

In a sit down with NonStop Local, Bodnar explained that he will work with other independent-minded Senators to pull our extreme partisan politics back toward solutions. He went on to he use a football, reference saying that he believes most Americans are on the 30 yard line, and that most politicians seem to be on the 5 yard line; He’d like to see that change.

Major policy points for him include, ending “Citizens United,” not giving lawmakers paychecks while the government is shut down and a policy that would invoke term limits, with Bodnar saying he believes lawmakers should only serve three terms.

You can watch here, Seth Bodnar's sit down with NonStop Locals Bradley Warren after his announcement that he would be running.

The full list of his priorities can be read here:

1. Ban members of Congress from enriching themselves on insider info

 Politicians shouldn't profit from inside information gained through their public service. Seth supports an immediate and total ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks, and the ban must extend to spouses and immediate family members.

• Ban stock trading by members of Congress and family by requiring divestment or blind trusts
• Replace the current 30-day disclosure window with real-time public disclosure within 48 hours of any financial transaction
• Sponsor a bill creating an immediate ban on use of prediction markets by Members and staff of Congress, and political appointees and senior members of the Executive Branch.
  
  
  

2. Full financial transparency for Congress, the executive branch, and the Supreme Court

 Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Seth supports robust conflict-of-interest rules and financial disclosure requirements for all members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, and the Supreme Court.

• Require all members of Congress to file financial disclosures within 30 days of taking office, and annually thereafter, accessible to the public through a searchable, sortable online database, not PDFs buried on a government website
• A binding code of conduct and mandatory financial disclosure for Supreme Court justices, with an enforceable recusal standard. The Court cannot remain the only institution in Washington without ethics rules
• Strengthen and expand the Office of Congressional Ethics to operate with full independence and subpoena power
  
  
  

3. No Budget, No Pay: End the culture of governing by crisis

 Congress has only fully funded the government on time  four times in the last 50 years. Rather than doing the hard work, they lurch from continuing resolution to continuing resolution, producing thousand-page omnibus bills nobody reads and nobody votes for on the merits. Montana families don't get paid for work they don't do, and neither should Congress. Seth supports suspending Congressional pay and forcing the Senate to remain in session for any period where the government is shut down. 

4. Term limits, age limits, that protect voters and democracy
   
   
   

Congress shouldn’t be a place for a career, but the United States Congress has become the oldest legislature of any major democracy in the world filled with career politicians. The average age of a U.S. senator is now 65 years old. We need new blood in Congress, and Seth supports a limit of 3 terms for Senators and a maximum age of 75 at the time they’re sworn in to the Senate, Congress, and President in the future.  Seth also supports a constitutional amendment establishing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and mandatory senior status, with reduced caseload and no new majority opinions, for federal judges over the age of 75.

5. Slam the revolving door between Congress and K Street
   
   
   

The most visible corruption in Washington isn't the bribery you see in the movies, it's the promise of a million-dollar lobbying job waiting on the other side of a vote. Seth supports:

• A lifetime ban on members of Congress or senior executive branch officials lobbying the agencies or committees they served on
• A lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming registered lobbyists for foreign governments

6. Overturn Citizens United

 In the fourteen years since Citizens United, outside spending in federal elections from Super PACs and dark money nonprofits has exploded. This is not free speech. It is the organized purchase of political outcomes by people with the resources to buy them. Seth supports a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United and end the era of unlimited, anonymous corporate spending in our elections.

7. End gerrymandering with mandatory nonpartisan redistricting
   
   
   

Montana knows firsthand what happens when politicians draw their own district lines. Competitive elections that serve voters, not parties, require independent redistricting commissions insulated from partisan manipulation. Seth supports mandatory nonpartisan redistricting at the federal level, modeled on the best state-level examples, and will champion Montana's own ongoing redistricting reform as proof that it works.

8. Fix the primary system that bolsters the broken political system

 Gerrymandering reform only goes so far if primary elections still reward the loudest and most extreme voices. Seth supports nonpartisan open primaries and ranked-choice voting for federal elections, producing winners with genuine majority support. 

9. Protect local control of elections with accountability, not partisanship

 The United States Constitution delegates running elections to the states. And Montana's elections should be run by Montanans. Seth opposes the federalization of election administration and will resist any effort by Washington bureaucrats of either party to centralize control over how states conduct their elections. At the same time, Seth supports providing resources that give every voter of any party confidence in results: Paper ballot backups for all voting systems, transparent post-election auditing, nonpartisan election administration at the county level, and timely public reporting of results. Trust in elections requires both local control and local accountability.