GOFFSTOWN – Democratic Presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton yesterday promised to ban her Cabinet members from lobbying the federal government and to strengthen protections for federal workers who blow the whistle on waste and ethics violations.

Unveiling a 10-point government reform plan, Clinton also promised to cut the number of no-bid federal contracts with private vendors by 500,000, saving between $10 billion and $18 billion a year, and to publish online the budgets, work product and contracts of federal agencies.

Clinton delivered the policy address at St. Anselm College before 220 students, supporters and local government officials. She admitted streamlining and increasing accountability in the federal government "is not exactly the kind of subject matter that gets people marching in the street, but if we don't restore competence in our government and confidence in our government, we will see the steady erosion of our government's capacity."

Clinton said in an interview afterward that she did not know what the plan would cost, "but we believe we can save money" from most aspects of her plan.

She said that at least 45 percent of $329 billion the government spent on contracts in fiscal year 2004 alone was awarded without competitive bidding. She promised to restore competitive bidding except in "rare cases" and in times of national emergency and to post every contract online.

Clinton said Bush has made government a source of favors for friends, creating "a stunning record of cronyism and corruption, incompetence and deception."

Promising to "close the revolving door between government and lobbyists," she said that "many of those who help write Bush's prescription drug plan quickly left government to become lobbyists for companies that "sought to benefit from it."

She acknowledged that she would appoint people who support her to government positions, but said they will be qualified. Bush, she said, appointed "friends, qualified or not."

Clinton would create a Public Service Academy to provide a four-year, federally-subsidized college education to more than 5,000 students a year in exchange for a five-year commitment to public service following graduation. She proposed restoring the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to give unbiased information on topics ranging from stem cell research and AIDS to the effectiveness of military defense programs.

She said a new "Results America Initiative" would post online information allowing Americans to have "the most up-to-date knowledge of everything from the quality of their air to the traffic on their streets." She called for putting such items as the medical records of military personnel and FBI cases on line.

Clinton said she would restore the "Reinventing Government" program begun during her husband's administration, which, she said "was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal workforce, trimming layers of management and cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool."