POINT OF VIEW: Bill would ban lobbyist contributions
NewsOK
BY STATE SEN. KENNETH CORN
Published: January 25, 2010
As someone with a history of supporting tougher ethics laws for politicians, I’m not surprised my proposal to ban campaign donations from lobbyists to legislators and statewide candidates has made me an outcast among Republican and Democratic politicians.
Weaning candidates and incumbent office holders off special-interest money is like taking heroin from a drug addict — it isn’t easy, but it needs to be done.
Senate Bill 1348, my ban on lobbyist contributions, is an outgrowth of legislation around the nation to dramatically weaken the stranglehold lobbyists and their bosses have on our legislative process.
It also is clean-up legislation designed to clarify an indecipherable maze of recent rulings by Oklahoma’s Ethics Commission and the attorney general. Those rulings have left a major cloud over what candidates can and cannot accept in the way of campaign donations...
FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Mon, January 25, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski