Freshman Democratic congressman Jared Golden announced a pair of new reform measures today to curb the influence money in politics that he describes as systemic roadblocks to progress.“What you see is an effort is to combat the culture of corruption and make sure that government is about public service, not about self-benefit or self-enrichment,” Golden said of his bills in an interview in his office in Maine’s 2nd congressional district. “We should be combating any form of self-interested wheeling and dealing in a place like Congress.”His Stop Foreign Payoffs Act would prohibit any president, vice president, Cabinet member, member of Congress and members of their immediate families, from deriving any income from or holding any investments in foreign-owned companies,“You shouldn’t have any financial interest in a foreign company, and you shouldn’t be receiving any kind of pay from a foreign entity,” Golden said. “You wouldn’t see the son or the daughter or spouse of an elected member of Congress sitting on the board of some foreign company collecting some kind of wage in return for being on that board. It would be banned.”Golden said the bill is meant to stop foreign entities from having any kind of leverage or influence over our leaders.He cited both the questions raised about the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter, sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, as well as the investigations into the Trump Organization, which the President still owns and his sons run while he is in the White House.“Are you telling me that governments out there don’t have an interest in doing business with the Trump Organization?” Golden said. “I think that we need to apply this equally, not just make it political about Republicans or about Democrats, but rather all elected officials should be divesting from any foreign financial interest whatsoever for as long as they hold office.”His Crack Down on Dark Money Act would require tax-exempt groups that spend on political campaigns to disclose all of their donors who give $5,000 or more. It would also set a cap on political activity at 10% of their annual spending,“Their purpose is not supposed to be about politics,” Golden said. “These groups are becoming almost like a form of straw donor, where people are bypassing campaign contribution caps and spending caps, but they’re also shielding the identity of their donors.”The groups are tax-exempt due to their status as nonprofits or social welfare organizations. The collectively spend hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads every election cycle.“People want to know who is paying for these ads either pro or con in support of an issue or a candidacy. I think people have a right to know, Golden said. “That’s why I call it a loophole you could drive a Mack truck through. It is making a mockery of campaign finance laws.”Federal campaign finance law limits a candidate’s committee to accepting $5,600 from individuals in an election cycle, half for a primary campaign and half for the general election, while all donors and expenditures must be reported quarterly to the Federal Election Commission. Golden said greater donor transparency could deter the negative ads by dark money groups.He said, “Whether it is benefiting you our hurting you, and in most campaigns it’s both, we should put a stop to it. Because it’s the explosion of money. I don’t know anyone in Maine that doesn’t agree the political spending and the advertisements aren’t way out of control.”