Josh Mandel Quotes

My view is that politics should be on the basis of issues.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

A legislator has thousands of issues he must decide. Five minutes of access to present your case is very valuable.

It's our duty in Congress to bring the voices of our communities to Washington.

In a presidential campaign, you can't lie. You can't hide what you are and what you want. You can't hide what kind of President you'll be. You can't keep on talking about nothing indefinitely and committing to nothing, you can't keep running away from debate, masking the challenges.

Part of the problem you have is that you don't have a dialogue between elected officials and their constituents. They've built these barricades, these barriers around themselves and tried to avoid interaction with their constituents.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

If it takes talking about unpleasant truths to change Washington, then so be it.

I think the American people deserve somebody telling them what is really happening in Washington.

Sometimes in Washington you get a little disconnected. I want to make sure I know what people are actually doing each day.

I spent 10 years fighting for reform in Cook County, and I didn't change my DNA when I got to Washington.

In Washington, task forces work like Tylenol: they reduce the symptoms of scandal while leaving the substance untouched.

We are hiring too many people who are called politicians, and we are not holding them accountable…. You do not hire someone and not tell them what to do. Make a trip to Washington and see that they are doing what you want them to do.

In Washington's highly politicized world, the greatest risk is not that a program will perform poorly, but that a scandal will erupt. Scandals are front page news, while routine failure is ignored.

That's what representative democracy is about, is members going to Washington but coming home and answering the tough questions.

I will fight hard for my constituents in Congress as I have done in the state Senate.

If you will trust me with your vote, you can count on me to take those values to Washington.

My approach to public service is straightforward: I fight every day for New Jersey families, small businesses, veterans, and seniors and work to change the way business is done in Washington.

The people of Montana want to send me to Washington - not to bring home the bacon but to slaughter the hog.

Ordinary people want good government.

I think, in Washington, getting things for the great people of Texas done is an important job.

These are issues we've been grappling with since the Constitution was written: how you hold your government to account for its words and deeds. It's all about power and the abuse of power.

We shouldn't have to pass a bill to find out what's in it.

I don't really worry what outside groups who score votes think. My job is to represent the people.

We don't get a more responsive government unless we start to systematically run organizing campaigns to change the way government works.