Sarbanes Prepares for Elevated Role as Leading Reformer in Congress

As Democrats push to retake the U.S. House of Representatives in November, government ethics and political reform have become an increasingly important part of their message. And that means an elevated role for Maryland Congressman John P. Sarbanes (D).... Sarbanes is House Democrats’ apostle of political reform, the chairman of the Democracy Reform Task Force. He’s the architect of the party’s multi-pronged good government agenda. If the Democrats seize the majority, he will play a leading role in shaping the suite of reform bills that Democrats will try to advance through Congress.... Sarbanes sees corruption in Washington, D.C., as the leading culprit of citizen dismay and disengagement in the political process. It’s hard for voters to have any faith in their leaders, he says, when oil and gas companies, the pharmaceutical industry, corporate polluters and the financial giants are perceived as having so much sway on Capitol Hill.