Ethics North Carolina Style
2010-08-13 - by
As House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney and House Republican Leader ‘Skip’ Stam watched beaming, Governor Perdue signed the states latest ‘Ethics Law.’
Hackney then said it was wonderful that Democrats were cleaning up the mess in state government, and Stam said it was a shame the Democrats had created the mess in the first place.
However, truth be told, the laws legislators left out of the bill are more important than the ones they put in.
For example: They left out a law that would have made candidates personally liable for the fines when if their campaigns violate state elections laws. Legislators killed that law in a New York minute.
And they left out another law that would have limited how much money government contractors can give to the politicians granting their contracts. Legislators said that might make it harder for companies that already had contracts to get more state work – because somehow, they reasoned, it would give companies without contracts a competitive advantage.
At least there’s no doubt that’s true – in North Carolina nothing gets a government contract like a contribution.
Ethics North Carolina Style
2010-08-13/
As House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney and House Republican Leader ‘Skip’ Stam watched beaming, Governor Perdue signed the states latest ‘Ethics Law.’
Hackney then said it was wonderful that Democrats were cleaning up the mess in state government, and Stam said it was a shame the Democrats had created the mess in the first place.
However, truth be told, the laws legislators left out of the bill are more important than the ones they put in.
For example: They left out a law that would have made candidates personally liable for the fines when if their campaigns violate state elections laws. Legislators killed that law in a New York minute.
And they left out another law that would have limited how much money government contractors can give to the politicians granting their contracts. Legislators said that might make it harder for companies that already had contracts to get more state work – because somehow, they reasoned, it would give companies without contracts a competitive advantage.
At least there’s no doubt that’s true – in North Carolina nothing gets a government contract like a contribution.