What about ticket access?
Lost in the whole “free ticket” discussion is the ability of legislators to purchase tickets to certain games (like the Sugar Bowl). Every year we hear complaints from people about the legislators being able to purchase sugar bowl tickets at face value without waiting on line or going to ticket brokers.
I believe that if the bill banning free tickets is passed as written, that the ability to purchase hard to get tickets will be retained by the legislators. Perhaps if we got rid of all the special perks, we could clear out all the people who are just there to serve themselves. Just sayin…
February 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
Ok, perhaps I have gotten too darned cynical in my old age. My first thoughts are that these guys are going to take some spoils out of the state’s fisc one way or another. A discounted ticket or a $50 meal from a lobbyist are some of the least harmful ways of legislators getting the spoils. Somebody probably gets a disproportionate amount of access to the legislator, but that’s probably about all you get for a ticket or a meal.
Now, there is no guarantee that they won’t take the tickets, the meal, and anything else they can get their hands on.
I go back to what I have been saying. Ethics reform, in and of itself, does nothing. What we need to do is make certain that LA is getting good value for the money it spends on state contracts. Limiting legislators’ perks and/or their ability to do business with the state does not directly further that goal. At best, it will limit opportunities to fleece the government. At worst, it may preclude good people doing business with the state.
This whole ethics reform thing is a smokescreen. The leges will be able to say, “see how ethical we are?” Jindal can say, “hey, I really kicked some butt on this one. I have done well!”
And the parting on the left are now parting on the right.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Well yes, the entire ethics plan proposed by Bobby Jindal is a smokescreen. It does not handle many of the serious flaws in the system and he will most likely give a “Today is a great day for Louisiana” speech (like the one I suggested in an earlier post) and many people will say “see, look at how wonderful he is”.
That being said, I just don’t want the people who complain that legislators get access to tickets to be fooled into believing that the elimination of free tickets means that they also stop getting access to tickets that they can purchase.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I’m working on a blog entry about how we can have REAL ethics reform that does not appear to be addressed by the bills, but my day job keeps interfering.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:03 pm
First and foremost, we need to get rid of corporate contributions.