(By the way, the name of those lobbyists were Geddy and Fine. Sound familiar? Hint: One was recently indicted on corruption charges in connection with the gambling legislation. Hmmm...)
Fast forward to today, and newly elected PSC member Twinkle Andress Cavenaugh says that such contributions are bad and should be banned. In fact, the PSC voluntarily made the decision to ban them.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2010/11/alabama_psc_enacts_ethics.html
The Alabama Public Service Commission has approved new ethics rules that prohibit commission members and employees from soliciting or accepting a gift or a campaign contribution from a lobbyist representing a company regulated by the PSC.
The commission and its employees were already prohibited from doing that with regulated companies. But Commissioner Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh said the commission wanted to close a loophole that existed with lobbyists. The change was 3-0 Thursday.
I wish I could say I found this turnabout puzzling, but I don't. Back then, nobody much cared about ethics. It wasn't a hot issue. Today it is, so the PSC is trying to ride the wave to public approval.
And people wonder why I am skeptical of the GOP at this moment...
The blunt truth is that almost every company in America is financing some politician (dimwit or otherwise). Larry's Used Cars are financing some guy on the town council to screw his competition via zoning laws. Karl the Christmas Tree grower puts money down on Mayor Benny to ensure that the town doesn't incorporate his 150-acre property and toss him into a higher tax situation.
ReplyDeleteYou have these operations now crossing state borders. You have foreign guys showing up from Nigeria, France, Italy and even South Korea to now funnel cash into Senate campaigns and Presidential campaigns. You can imagine the fury of the US in the 1800s if suddenly it was learned that France had funneled $50k to Jefferson for his re-election.
The real question folks ought to ask...is after Representative Snuffy gets his $2.8 million in donations...how does he really use it? That part is not clear anymore. If he tossed $9k a month for a guy to deliver peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches...we might want to ask questions about this. If he tossed $6k a month toward his sister-in-law who just sat around and answered the phone...we might want to ask questions.
None of this is making much sense in the society that we live today. And if we are living now in a major election every two years kind of environment...I see this only getting worse. Imagine your wife going to the local beauty parlor and they've started a bucket of money to support the local town council candidate, or you visiting the local catfish grill and a money bucket is there to support the local town clerk election. And folks start to put peer pressure on you or the wife to toss in $5. You'd laugh...then be told not to come back. Frankly, once you establish the fact that the best catfish comes only from this establishment...it's a woeful moment that you then force yourself to cooperate...just to have a decent plate of catfish once in a while.