As the mid-terms approach, some Democrats are feeling pretty nervous. But it’s encouraging to see that others are out there getting their hand in the game and developing bold new policy initiatives sure to win over the voters. One great example of this is surely Aaron Woolf who is running for Congress in New York’s 21st congressional district on the D ticket. Check out these bold plans!

No budget, no pay for Congress – for real

-No funding for, nor use of, a taxpayer-funded gym or salon and barber shop by members of Congress on the public dime…

-No funding for, nor use of, taxpayer money to pay for the rent or lease of vehicles.

-No funding for, nor use of, health care “perks” that are not available to the general public…

-No travel under the “charter jet” loophole allowing members of Congress to use political campaign funds to upgrade a privately-funded flight to first class travel.

Say, those are some bold proposals and they should be well received by fed-up taxpayers. I’m sure Mr. Woolf will do well. But wait… what’s this? Another candidate, this one in New Jersey, also has a cracker-jack list of proposals which she is sure will sway the voters.

Aimee Belgard has announced that she will reject the following taxpayer funded Congressional perks and require increased transparency when it comes to support for tax breaks that could directly benefit members of Congress:

Taxpayer funded first class airfare

Taxpayer funded luxury vehicles

Taxpayer funded members-only gym

Taxpayer funded campaign-style mailers to constituents

Hrm.. something seems oddly familiar about this. But hey. that’s probably just me being cynical. I’m sure Michael Wager, on the Democrat ticket in Ohio’s 14th district try to unseat incumbent David Joyce, will come into this battle like a refreshing breath of springtime air.

Wager commits to rejecting the following Congressional extras:

No pay raise until Congress passes a livable minimum wage
No Congressional pension as Social Security should apply to all members of Congress instead of their more generous retirement plan
No taxpayer or privately funded overseas trips except to military bases

No pay raises? No fancy plane travel or top line rental cars? In short, none of the perks that members usually soak up? And to top it all off, the first two of those candidates released these plans on the exact same day. The third was within 48 hours. So what could possibly explain this?

Well, their staff members could be engaged in one of the most blatant cases of copying off someone’s homework ever, I suppose. But they’re an awfully long way apart to be sharing cheat sheets. Or just maybe … could it be that the DNC released a new strategy sheet for the summer and these three jumped on the talking points without bothering to worry about obvious message collision or trying to significantly edit the memo to make it look more original?

But if this is the DNC battle plan of the week, why sneak it out to far flung campaigns under cover of darkness? Why not just announce a national perks reform campaign for the party on the steps of Congress? Could it be that plenty of Democrats already engage in lapping up these perks on a regular basis and they would be instantly called out on their hypocrisy? Naw, that couldn’t be it.

For the record, there are plenty of Republicans lapping up cream from the same saucer. There’s no secret about that. They just don’t seem to be so blatantly phony about it in most cases.