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TO POLITICAL, AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
Military Vet Creates GovRate in Response to Record Low Approval
Ratings for Congress in Effort to Hold Politicians Accountable for
Their Voting Record
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A disgruntled military
vet has threatened to throw a wrench into the plans of career
politicians that have failed to represent the values and desires of
their constituents. Brett Hunter, a computer science student and
recently separated vet, is developing a new Internet application that
aims to identify all of the politicians on Capitol Hill that regularly
place their own interests ahead of constituents.
"It's no longer business as usual for these politicians that fail to
place the best interests of Americans before their own self-serving
interests," says Hunter, the self-avowed apolitical founder of the
GovRate Project (http://govrate.org). "My only political ambition is
to ensure that Congress represents the values of ordinary Americans
above personal, partisan or other special interests."
GovRate works by asking users to share their opinions on current and
past legislation from both houses of Congress. It then compares these
opinions to the actual voting record of the user's actual
congressional representatives. In addition, GovRate acts as a catalyst
for change by canvassing users for their own legislative proposals.
GovRate compiles this information from all users and "rates" each
member of Congress with a simple letter grade.
"For the first time, we're going to be able to see how Congress
performs in real-time, with constant popular analysis of congressional
actions," boasts Hunter. "I'm not a political person, but I just felt
that something like this was sorely needed by the American public."
GovRate also collects other information on Congressmen including
lobbyist activities, earmark spending, and controversial committee
activities. This information is also integrated into the letter grades
that politicians receive.
GovRate members have complete control over how all this information is
weighted into the grading process, with the most important aspects of
Congressional activities weighted the highest.
"All of our calculations are transparent and controlled by the
consensus of our members. This is truly a grassroots-based and honest
assessment of Congressional performance. We've set up an environment
that mitigates the effects of partisan and ideological bias by asking
people to analyze the actions of Congressmen rather than the
individual members themselves," explains Hunter. "The widespread
distribution of our ratings will help voters make informed decisions
during the election cycle."
Development of GovRate is ongoing and Hunter hopes to launch a
beta-version of the application to the general public in early Summer.
For more information and to follow the progression of GovRate, visit
Contact: Brett Hunter, GovRate Project, (503) 894-5223, Email
Read more news from GovRate.
SOURCE GovRate
-0- 03/04/2014
/Web Site: http://govrate.org
CO: GovRate
ST: California
IN: MLM WEB PUB
SU: SVY POL
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0000 03/04/2014 13:35:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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