Not sure I'd call it a treat, Dave
Mari Margil
Above the fold today in the Oregonian, there is an article - Big-ticket gifts go out with new Legislature - by Dave Hogan.
He writes: "Lobbyists and their employers paid for Oregon legislators to stay in Hawaii...and other resorts for conferences in 2006...They also provided lawmakers with treats such as dinners, golf tournament tickets, a fishing trip and a Trail Blazers game..."
While I'm not sure I'd call going to a Blazers game a treat, the Leg making the tightening of ethics rules a priority this session is good news.
To quote myself from a recent letter and report my organization sent with 10 other environmental and corporate accountability groups to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, on the need for the company to end its political contributions, "Political influence by corporations fundamentally inhibits the ability of decision makers to make sound public policy, whether to protect the public health and environment, worker and human rights, communities, or otherwise."
Corporations should get out of elections, politics, and government. The Oregon Legislature could actually make big strides in this direction this year.
Perhaps the Blazers could play a positive role here - and now I'm just speaking for Paul Allen and myself - in hoping that some legislators may run with horror from the outthrust hand of a lobbyist holding tix to a game. That may be asking too much. Here' s hoping.
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Feb 6, '07
It's the corporatoins fault? They simply do what works.
How about legislators declining all gifts/perks??
Intel does that, you take something, you get fired.
It is not really that hard Mari.
Feb 6, '07
Alas, Mari, there's this little thing called the Constitution that stands in the way of your wishes. You should read it sometime.
Feb 6, '07
There's nothing in the state constitution entitling lawmakers to gifts or barring laws against such favors. The current ethics law since 1974 has banned gifts of more than $100 a year to public officials, with exceptions. And the constitution says each house makes its own rules, which the House has done in expanding the prohibitions.