In this op-ed, Rep. Jason Kander, D-Kansas City,a candidate for secretary of state, warns about the selling of Missouri government to special interests, something which it is becoming more and more apparent, is going to have a major effect on the 2012 legislative session:
Lawmakers taking unlimited lobbyist gifts, six-figure campaign checks, and jobs as lobbyists the minute their public service ends.
If you think this is happening in Washington, you would be wrong. This behavior has even been prohibited in the ethical cesspool that is our nation's capital. But sadly all of these transgressions are happening in Jefferson City as we speak. Worse yet, they are perfectly legal.
Missouri now holds the distinction of being the only state in the country where lawmakers can both accept unlimited lobbyist gifts and unlimited campaign contributions.
Over the last few decades the Missouri legislature has transitioned from a part-time job where farmers, lawyers and small businesswomen would give up a little of their time each Spring to travel to Jefferson City, to a world of corporate jets and lobbyist funded junkets.
Luckily, it doesn't have to be this way. I recently filed sweeping ethics reform legislation for lawmakers to consider as the annual legislative session begins this week. This bill would ban lobbyist gifts, reinstate campaign contribution limits, and prohibit lawmakers from lobbying for two years after they serve.
Strengthening these laws is far from a partisan issue. Democrats and Republicans alike should be ashamed that Missouri operates in a political system that doesn't even match the current ethical standards in our nation's capital.
This economic downturn has been hard on Missouri families and businesses. I've talked with countless Missourians who are working hard each and every day but are forced to get by on less each month.
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Those people obviously never served in the Missouri legislature. As the annual legislative session begins, free steak dinners, sports and concert tickets, and out-of-state junkets will again be the norm.
And while lawmakers pay nothing for these perks, there is indeed a cost to society. When elected officials receive gifts from lobbyists, special interests gain influence and everyday citizens lose some. Now is the time to strengthen Missouri's ethics laws.
Excellent points, Rep. Kander! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, we need to get the big, ugly, distorting, corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our political system and so, our government. That there are no limits to the amount of money that can be given to our representatives and candidates for political offices is obscene. Same for gifts to office holders--that needs to go, too.
So thank you for your work to date and please keep pressing for this kind of cleanup of our government. We're behind you on it and know we need it on the State and Federal level, both, and badly.
Of the two announced Republican candidates for Secretary of State, this guy, Kander, is by far the better qualified, most dignified, and best of all, best homogenized of the two.
ReplyDeleteBut...t, no pun intended, the Willard guy is a wet wipe for the Blunts so he will get their smoke-filled, back room support.
The guy from Willard inspires no one, and, I'm a Willard Republican. In eight years, about all he has done is attend the 4th of July parade, reluctantly. He has carried a grand total of very few legislative proposals in the General Assembly because people in the know, know he can't get the job done.
Sorry Shane but them's the breaks.