Clinton touts open government in luncheon speech

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) expressed her support for the federal shield law pending in Congress and vowed to make the government more accountable at the annual Capital Conference today in Washington, D.C.

“I will direct Congress to operate from a presumption of openness,” Clinton said.

Clinton also took questions from the more than 200 editors and newspaper executives at the luncheon, hosted by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE).

Her speech touched upon other issues, such as outsourcing jobs and global climate change, and also pointed out what she sees as shortcomings of the current administration.

“I will restore openness,” Clinton said. “The era of Bush-Cheney secrecy will be over.”

Clinton’s talk wraps up the last of all three presidential candidates’ speeches at the conference, which goes until Wednesday. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke at the Associated Press’ annual meeting and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spoke at the AP’s luncheon.