You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me….
According to the Anchorage Daily News, some legislators are pushing to lift the limits on how much lobbyists can spend wining-and-dining our elected officials without having to report the expenditure. You’ve got to be kidding me…
This is a state that has been shaken to the core by corruption scandals, with former state legislators and lobbyists serving jail time for buying and selling votes.
This is a federal government in which, not even a month ago, the Supreme Court further opened the floodgates of corporate spending in politics with their misguided and dangerous decision in the “Citizens United” case.
This is an America where average citizens are increasingly outraged at special interest lobbyists wining-and-dining our elected officials to their own personal gain, and that of their fat cat clients.
Now, some Alaska legislators want to change the law so that lobbyists can buy them fancy dinners– without even reporting it?
Wining and dining our elected officials should be banned outright, but to suggest that we should allow our legislators to be taken out for a fancy meal without even a nod to public disclosure is simply outrageous. Kudos to legislators like Rep. Les Gara and Rep. Mike Doogan for calling this what it is: a bad idea.
But, to the legislators pushing to get spoiled by big money lobbyists in our state’s capitol, I say: buy your own meals. And if you’re a citizen frustrated by big money influence in politics, I urge you to contact your own legislators and tell them the same.
