Allocco pledges American Idol technology to decide votes in Congress

A New Jersey congressional candidate promises he’ll vote the way his constituents tell him too – literally — if he gets to succeed Rodney Frelinghuysen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republican Patrick Allocco, a former concert promoter who was held captive in Angola for nearly two months in 2012, wants to use audience participation technology to let constituents tell him to vote in Congress.

“You can vote on American Idol, Dancing With the Stars and The Voice, but you can’t vote on taxes, guns, health care and immigration,” said Allocco, a former concert promoter who says he’ll use a realty TV-like system to let the people decide how he’ll represent them.

As a congressman, Allocco says he’ll empower 11th district voters to access bills and resolutions and give them an objective look at the issues from the Republican and Democratic sides.

He says he’ll “check his own ideology and convictions at the door.”

“I swear to each and every one of you that, no matter your party affiliation, I will vote the way the majority of you instruct me to vote – and quickly and easily make your choice known to me, said Allocco. “I believe the time has come to hold our representatives accountable to the people — not the special interests and elite donor class.”

Allocco has been around New Jersey politics for more than 30 years, starting as a driver for a U.S. Senate candidate in 1984.  (Full disclosure: I was the campaign manager on that race.)  He also worked on Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign, as a special assistant to Gov. Tom Kean, and on Jack Kemp’s presidential campaign.