State Representatives Fined for Ethics Violations

The new House Republican Leader, Rep. Bruce Hanna, has been fined $200 for an ethics violation after he failed to report a lobbyist sponsored trip. Fellow republican and State Senator Robert Beyer has been fined $100 for a similar trip.

From the Oregonian:

Two more Oregon legislators have agreed to pay civil penalties for failing to report trips provided to them by lobbyists. This time, Rep. Bruce Hanna and Sen. Roger Beyer are agreeing to pay a total of $300 in connection with trips to Sunriver that organizations treated them to in 2004 and 2005.

Hanna, the new House Republican leader, has agreed to pay $200 to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in connection with two trips. The Oregon Grocery Association paid $147 for the Roseburg representative's food, lodging and travel costs for a candidate conference in August 2004, and the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems paid $215 for him to attend a conference there in July 2005.

Beyer, a Molalla Republican, has agreed to pay $100 to the ethics commission for failing to report the $184 in expenses that the grocery association paid for him to attend the 2004 candidate conference.

Over at Beaver Boundary, blogger taioseach states that not only is Hanna an honorary chair for Gordon Smith's re-election campaign, but he's one of several chairs with ethics issues:

The thing is, ethics violations are commonplace to a good number of Smith’s honorary campaign chairs. Heck, it seems like past ethics problems are nearly a requirement to sign up with the Smith campaign! To name the obvious:

-Rep. Wayne Scott (R-Oregon City), who accepted a trip to a Hawaiian resort from the beer lobby
-Rep. Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village), accepted a free trip to Israel worth over $4,000
-Sen. David Nelson (R-Pendleton), who went with Rep. Scott to Hawaii courtesy of Paul Romain and the beer lobby
-Sen. Jason Atkinson (R-Eagle Point), who went to the Hawaii conference in 2002

And one other thing: after Nelson and Scott were fined for failing to report the 2004 trip Hawaii, they went again in 2006 to collect over $30,000 in campaign contributions! What’s more, Hanna joined Scott and Nelson on that second trip–creating a complete ‘Lobbyist Luau’ contingent on Smith’s team.

Obviously, Gordon Smith is showing Oregonians the kind of Senator he’ll continue to be by appointing these ethically-challenged lawmakers as honorary chairs of his campaign. By virtue of association, Smith reveals his true agenda for the continued exploitation of government by the special interests for the benefit of a few powerful and influential individuals.

Read the rest and comment at Beaver Boundary.

Oct. 27, 2007 Posted in in the news 2007.