A candidate for Congress is calling for campaign finance reform and greater government accountability.

Elissa Slotkin is vying for the Democratic nomination for 8th District Congressional seat that will be decided August 7th. On Tuesday, the Holly native rolled out three ideas for campaign finance reformation alongside End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. Slotkin is first calling for transparency in social media advertising. She wants the same standards online that apply to television, such as who is buying the ad and where they are from. Secondly she wants to strengthen the disclosure on outside spending. This applies to those who "dump thousands of dollars into issue organizations” and are granted greater anonymity over those who donate directly to a candidate. Her third pillar for reform comes in overturning the 2010 Citizens United decision that allows corporate and union spending to support or denounce individual candidates in elections. Muller applauded Slotkin for her commitment to work on campaign finance reform if elected. “Elissa is already showing leadership by rejecting corporate PAC money. The plan she announced today will bring more disclosure and accountability to Washington through meaningful reforms." The Democrat that Slotkin faces in next Tuesday's primary is Chris Smith of East Lansing. The Michigan State University criminal justice professor has also laid out a case for campaign finance reform, saying, "We must work to counteract the terrible effects of Citizens United and the power it gave to wealthy interests to influence elections."

Slotkin is also calling for increased government accountability. If elected, she pledges to make her weekly schedule public, believing people have the right to know who their representatives are meeting and how they are spending and distributing their time. She also wants an expert and community-led district advisory board and will hold public town halls every three months. Slotkin said it’s been too long since Incumbent Republican Mike Bishop has engaged the public and that he isn’t fulfilling his basic responsibilities as a public servant.

Bishop campaign spokesman Stu Sandler disputed the notion Slotkin doesn't take PAC money. "Shady Elissa Slotkin takes PAC money so this pledge isn't worth the paper it's written on. And Slotkin launders different kind of PAC money through other PACs. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Shady Slotkin would try and cast a judgement while receiving the vast majority of her campaign funding from liberal coastal elites in New York, California, Massachussetts and DC. Shady Elissa Slotkin is not being truthful about how her campaign is funded and how she owns no property in the district and will vote for the first time in Michigan on Tuesday."

Slotkin says such responses are, "a ploy to deflect where his money is coming from, namely corporate PACs." (MK/JK)