Issue One welcomes former New York Republican Representative Richard Hanna to the ReFormers Caucus, Issue One’s bipartisan coalition working on passing game-changing legislation to return our government to the people. The ReFormers Caucus is the largest group of former lawmakers ever assembled on behalf of ethics and money in politics.
Rep. Hanna represented New York’s 24th and then 22nd Districts from 2011 to 2017. He served on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Joint Economic Committee, and the House Committee on Small Business, chairing its Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce; he also co-chaired both the New York Defense Working Group and the STEM Education Caucus.
Throughout his three terms in office, Rep. Hanna promoted fiscal conservatism, supporting free market initiatives and spending cuts. In an exit interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, he claimed the Republican party had “gone to the far extremes on social issues.” Rep.Hanna was one of only two Republican members of the LGBT Equality Caucus.
As an active and fiercely independent member of Congress, Rep. Hanna was unable to turn a blind eye to our broken political system. Along with Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer, Rep. Hanna introduced the bipartisan Election Protection & Integrity Certification Act to prevent foreign money in political campaigns.
“One of the hallmarks of American democracy is a transparent government. I believe that same ideal should also apply to our elections,” Rep. Hanna said in a release announcing the new legislation aimed to curb the “increasing amounts of money and outside groups involving themselves in American politics.”
Rep. Hanna has also spoken about the frustrations of a hyper partisan Congress where, “severe divisions in the two-party system have made it so that, by and large, there’s no compromise, or certainly not enough.”
In another interview, he adds “I don’t see an easy solution. But I do recognize there is too much money in campaigns. I have friends in Washington who spend way too much time raising money.”
Issue One is pleased to welcome Rep. Hanna’s commitment to working across the aisle to move America forward.
