Liberty and Justice for All!

Yesterday, Elliot Stonecipher was on the Jim Brown show and both of them agreed that we are not going to see real ethics reform unless we see campaign finance reform right along side it. You can listen to the interview here.

The interview discussed those issues that I have raised, that a politician can collect more than just the “campaign maximum” from an individual as long as that person owns several corporations.

One key point Mr. Stonecipher made was to a caller who was concerned that people want to believe in the Governor and questioned that Mr. Stonecipher was already questioning the plan of Governor-elect Jindal. Mr. Stonecipher said that he has tried to contact Mr. Jindal about his concerns to no avail. He then said this:

We will know when we see what passes the legislature what were really going to get in ethics reform. But my concern is the following. We…  are now in a place where Governor-elect Jindal has raised the expectations so high that at 55 years old I know we are never going to get to revisit this in my lifetime. Whatever it is he offers up, the people of Louisiana will say is ethics reform because they want to believe that. That will not make that true. So, I don’t have any agenda here accept trying to get the real deal done instead of a political deal done. And that I feel is the difference.

That is a great point. Just because people want to believe they elected Jindal to bring ethics reform, it does not mean that what Bobby Jindal will actually bring real ethics reform. We need to hold his feet to the fire and make sure we get that real ethics reform. The only way to get real ethics reform is to include real campaign finance reform. Real campaign finance reform includes, but is not limited to, eliminating corporate donations.

Edited to add this additional comment by Mr. Stonecipher:

Let’s remember and let me be specific about this. Bobby Jindal’s political goals and objectives are not best served by [his] really totally revamping the ethics apparatus in Louisiana.  … Now, the people who think I’m slamming Bobby Jindal believe that Bobby Jindal will just automatically do the things that are best for Louisiana. I’m sorry, nobody ever does that. That’s all I’m going to say. Im not throwing rocks at Bobby Jindal. Im saying they are political animals and they do what’s best for them and whats best for the state (we hope). But its a blend of the two. If bobby Jindal can send the old LA ETHICS #1 bill to the legislature … if he sends a bunch of easy changes to make and the legislature can pass it and pat themselves on the back …  its going to look like a political win and he gets to claim victory. I would conend thats the very thing Blanco would have done, the very thing Foster would have done … that is not in our best interest. It is in their political interest.

Very well stated! And as Jim Brown followed up, we don’t want to let someone hit a single and claim they hit a home run.

Over on Bayou Buzz, Jim Brown states:

Right now, Louisiana has loopholes in its campaign finance laws you could drive a truck through.  If the new Governor limits his ethics reform proposals to disclosure and limitations on just elected officials, he will give the perception of making some changes, but he will not be shutting the door on what are now widespread abuses.

Bobby Jindal needs to do more than just get a hit his first time at bat with the new legislature.  He needs to hit a homerun.  Closing campaign finance loopholes will give him a good shot at getting off to a good start that is perceived as both perception and substantive change.

I discussed this issue with him when I called into his show. The topic of discussion was about Bobby Jindal failing to follow his promise of not interfering with the selection of legislative leaders when he backed Chaisson for Senate President. I asked if anyone was surprised that Jindal would back down on this promise since he campaign on ethics and then promoted someone to his ethics team that used that violation of the campaign finance laws. I hope more and more people jump on this bandwagon. I have been trying to make a large noise about this for a while now and finally I think we are getting some traction!