By Jacquelyn Springgay
Pete Ashdown, who is running for U. S. Senate, says he keeps energy policy a top priority on his list.
'The Senate has demonstrated a lack of imagination towards balanced energy policy,' Ashdown said. 'We need to look for more oil but have a balance. Solar energy, geo thermal, bio-diesel ? they all have potential in Utah.'
Along with energy policy, Ash-down said he wants to help Congress become more technologically ad-vanced.
'My other primary issue, ? is that I believe Congress and the Senate not accountable to Ameri-can people,' Ashdown said. 'We have the ability through technology to make them accountable.'
Ashdown said he suggests that Congress publish calendars on the Internet and explain why they are meeting. He wants them to publish budgets on Web sites so the public can see how tax dollars are spent.
Congress 'wants to keep Ameri-can people in the dark so they can retain campaign donors, big business, and wealthy interests,' Ashdown said. 'They want to make American people last.'
Another of Ashdown?s key issues is the economy. He said the United States has invented many great things, but wonders what it has done re-cently.
'The United States is in dire dan-ger as we are being surpassed by other countries on the industrial front,' Ashdown said. 'Other coun-tries are now surpassing the United States with innovation. We need to have the courage to reverse this trend.'
Ashdown, 39, who attended the University of Utah and studied com-puter science, said he remembers what it is like to be in college and wants to support students.
'I am fighting for because what I have seen is it takes 20 years to understand new technology in Congress, and I think they should understand it today,' he said.
Ashdown said he wants Congress to use modern technology to better the American people.
'Through the use of modern communication and collaborative technologies, the public can have a voice equal to paid lobbyists who see our elected officials every day,' Ash-down said.
'Unfortunately, the majority of our federal representation not only lacks the ability to implement these changes, but the will to do so as well. They retain office through a system which depends on keeping the general public uninformed and cynical to-wards politics,' he said.
Ashdown said other congress members admit that they don''t have a deep understanding of technology such as text messaging and music downloading.
For more information on Ash-down''s stand on other issues, visit peteashdown.org.