[img_assist|nid=2491|title=Maine RNC breakfast|desc=Dorcas Hardy speaks. Politicker photo.|link=none|align=left|width=225|height=169]MINNEAPOLIS -- John McCain can bring about the necessary reforms to government through changes like earmark reform and public financing, said surrogate Dorcas Hardy at a breakfast for the Maine and Vermont delegations Tuesday.

Hardy is a former commissioner of Social Security and a current president of a government relations firm.

Hardy said she met McCain while she was running Social Security in 2000, and admired how he talked to constituents in “straight talk manner” as he promised better social security

The key to improving the country is to cut wasteful government spending through earmark reform and line item vetoes, she said.

“He is willing to try and tackle tough issues,” Hardy said. “He does think about the future and he does agree that this great spending spree that we have been on in Washington is not helping us at all.”

After McCain’s speech, she noted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, sponsored in part by McCain in 2002, which attempted to reduce the influence of big money in politics by limiting campaign contributions.