Told you so! Told you so!

Not only did it not touch campaign finance reform, where any serious ethics reform should begin (garbage in garbage out- with the garbage being……), it also is being laughed at.

“Instead of a lobbyist paying for a legislator’s meal directly, they’ll give money to the legislator’s campaign. ”

“”Invited guests is another loophole a mile wide to get around what has been done this particular session,” Engster says. He says for example, if a lobbyist wants to take an entire committee out to dinner, the bill allows the lobbyist to spend $50 on each invited guest. “If only two of them show, then I’ve got $600 to spend on two.” Lobbyists can spend more than $50 on themselves, and just share their meals with the legislators. Lobbyists can bring their own wine or liquor, pay a small cork fee, then drinks are free for the legislator. “Instead of special session, we’ll have the session special (Ha, ha, ha!),” Engster laughs.”
“At least three of the popular legislative wine and dine establishments we spoke with say they plan on having a $49.99 special during the session, so legislators can make sure they’re under that $50 limit, without having to switch to fast food.”

The good freshman Democrat Walker Hines of New Orleans who proposed “no cup of coffee” legislation like Florida was laughed off the floor.

Darn, that standard gives gold a bad name.