Real ethical problem? Or strawman?
A Louisiana House committee rejected one of Bobby Jindal’s ethics suggestions. He wants people who contribute $250 or more to campaigns to reveal their employers. This is supposed to help find employers who are funneling funds through their employees to campaigns.
The question I have is this. Is this a chronic problem in Louisiana politics? Are there companies funneling large amounts of money to their employees for the purpose of supporting political candidates? Or is this a straw-man ethical issue that is being presented to try and show that the governor is fighting for strong ethics when in reality, the problem is not as bad as other problems (you know, like rich people using multiple corporations to funnel campaign funds to support political candidates).
And even if it is a problem, how will it be enforced? What will the threshold be on the percentage of employees per company contributing to a campaign that will trigger an investigation? How will you prove that the funds given are not just a bonus? What would stop companies from using people who wouldn’t normally contribute and giving them $200 to contributed (thus circumventing the spirit of the law)? I mean, a company with 100 employees could give each of them $200 (net) to donate to a specific candidate, that candidate would get $20,000, and this law would not be triggered.
Meanwhile, the owner of the company can own 10 corporations, contribute the maximum amount through each corporation, and funnel $50,000 to the same candidate. Seems to me that this would likely be the bigger of the two issues. Of course Bobby Jindal wont deal with that ethical problem our state faces. Why? Because it will effect him in his next campaign for Governor. And Bobby Jindal’s ethics session is for other people to follow, and not him or his administration.