Scotch Plains, NJ – Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, announced that he signed the earmark reform pledge that goes above and beyond any current earmark disclosure rules to boost transparency and demand higher standards from members of Congress for future earmark requests. Marks was also the first candidate in the race for Congress to sign the Americans for Tax Reform “No Tax Pledge.” The earmarks pledge is sponsored by the national taxpayer advocacy group - Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW). “It has become all too clear, with every new media report on abusive, special-interest spending in Washington, that we have to drain this earmark swamp,” said Marks, a fiscal conservative.

“In plain words, public confidence in Washington is broken and to restore it, we must restore integrity and honesty to the spending process,” said Marks.  “There is a great abundance of rhetoric about earmark reform, but far too little action. I am running for Congress because the taxpayers in the 7th district and across New Jersey deserve to know that their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent wisely and ethically in Washington.”

Marks explained that he supported the earmarks reform pledge because it will save tax dollars, bring strong and intense scrutiny to the process of spending public dollars, and will change the culture in Washington that has allowed spending bills to become a wish-list for powerful members in Washington. 

Martin Marks is a lifelong resident of the 7th Congressional District who shares the concerns and values of families and taxpayers. He is the only true conservative in the field for the Republican primary, and will bring core Republican principles on taxing, spending, national security and more back to Washington. For more information on Martin Marks, please visit www.MarksforCongress2008.com  

Paid for by Marks for Congress