“Today is a great day to be a Louisianian.”
Update 1: And here is the fluff peice from the T-P. Oyster should love this quote from Jindal:
“We have literally passed the nation’s gold standard.”
Update 2: More media fluff. The New York Times, The Daily Advertiser, Sify, and again, the T-P are drinking the kool aid and praising Jindal for passing comprehensive ethics reform, something he did not do. Let’s look at T-P:
Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature dealt the infamous Louisiana Way a substantial blow with the historic reforms coming out of the special session on ethics.
Really? So lets say a lobbyist wanted to spend $200 to wine and dine a legislator. This just means he has to go to 4 luches with him/her and not just 1. Is that a huge stride? I don’t think so. These are mostly “feel good” but “do nothing” laws that have no bite since we are not seeing how they will be enforced. And when your governor balks at increased transparency on his administration because he feels that investors should be able to meet with the governor in private (ahem.. back room deals… ahem), I fail to see how Louisiana is not operating under business as usual.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Political Analyst Exposes Loopholes in New Ethics Bill
http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=7937167
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.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
It is more like a pyrite standard.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
As I said in my blog, it’s the “gold sieve” standard if Engster is to be believed.
Told you so! Told you so!