Hockey and Gifts to Legislators
The State House passed a ‘Reform’ bill to clean up government by limiting lobbyists’ gifts to legislators. How much good has it done?
The newspapers report spotting five legislators attending the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup finals.
According to the News and Observer (6-10-06) Democrat Representative Jim Harrell – who voluntarily signed a list to put lobbyists on notice not to give him gifts – watched the hockey game from a “suite leased to the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives.” Leaving aside the question of why the “Co-Ops” need to lease a suite at a hockey game the value of Harrell’s ticket is worth between $120 -$300.
How did Harrell reconcile this with his pledge not to take gifts? He says it isn’t a gift as defined by the House. Why? Because he only pledged not to take gifts that were dropped off at his legislative office. Harrell said: “The ticket was not.”
I’m not kidding.
I tried to think of one gift that could only be dropped off at his office. I couldn’t. Can you?
The News and Observer also reports Representatives Nelson Dollar (R), Phil Haire (D), and Ed McMahan (R), were invited to the suite (at least they did not sign the no gifts pledge). And the Winston-Salem Journal reports Representative Bonner Stiller was there too (Winston Salem Journal, 6-11-06).
Paul O’Connor, columnist for the Journal wrote he “asked Stiller if he’d paid for his ticket. He said, ‘Yeah, in my electric bill.’ Then he laughed.”
O’Connor continues: “I asked if he’d reimbursed the co-ops for the ticket. He didn’t answer. So I mentioned I’d seen him at a game a few nights earlier. And here’s the funny thing: He couldn’t recall whether he’d ever been in that seat before.”
O’Connor adds that Stiller voted to raise the limit on gifts legislators must report from $200 to $1,000. So, unless the Senate changes the House bill, Representative Stiller wouldn’t even have to report his tickets.
That’s the kind of job House Democrats have done to clean up the ‘pay to play’ scandals.
Maybe the next time the Hurricanes play the Republican Party ought to send a TV camera and shoot footage – not of the game but of the legislators. It might look fine in a television ad this fall.
Hockey and Gifts to Legislators
The State House passed a ‘Reform’ bill to clean up government by limiting lobbyists’ gifts to legislators. How much good has it done?
The newspapers report spotting five legislators attending the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup finals.
According to the News and Observer (6-10-06) Democrat Representative Jim Harrell – who voluntarily signed a list to put lobbyists on notice not to give him gifts – watched the hockey game from a “suite leased to the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives.” Leaving aside the question of why the “Co-Ops” need to lease a suite at a hockey game the value of Harrell’s ticket is worth between $120 -$300.
How did Harrell reconcile this with his pledge not to take gifts? He says it isn’t a gift as defined by the House. Why? Because he only pledged not to take gifts that were dropped off at his legislative office. Harrell said: “The ticket was not.”
I’m not kidding.
I tried to think of one gift that could only be dropped off at his office. I couldn’t. Can you?
The News and Observer also reports Representatives Nelson Dollar (R), Phil Haire (D), and Ed McMahan (R), were invited to the suite (at least they did not sign the no gifts pledge). And the Winston-Salem Journal reports Representative Bonner Stiller was there too (Winston Salem Journal, 6-11-06).
Paul O’Connor, columnist for the Journal wrote he “asked Stiller if he’d paid for his ticket. He said, ‘Yeah, in my electric bill.’ Then he laughed.”
O’Connor continues: “I asked if he’d reimbursed the co-ops for the ticket. He didn’t answer. So I mentioned I’d seen him at a game a few nights earlier. And here’s the funny thing: He couldn’t recall whether he’d ever been in that seat before.”
O’Connor adds that Stiller voted to raise the limit on gifts legislators must report from $200 to $1,000. So, unless the Senate changes the House bill, Representative Stiller wouldn’t even have to report his tickets.
That’s the kind of job House Democrats have done to clean up the ‘pay to play’ scandals.
Maybe the next time the Hurricanes play the Republican Party ought to send a TV camera and shoot footage – not of the game but of the legislators. It might look fine in a television ad this fall.