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Hawaii Monitor: Time To Ban Campaign Donations During Session?
By Ian Lind 03/27/2013
Should legislators be barred from holding fundraising events or soliciting money from lobbyists and interest groups while the Legislature is in session?
These mid-session fundraisers rely heavily on lobbyists and other special interests to write checks to the same legislators who will be deciding whether bills they are backing will pass or not. That’s certainly enough to cause the average person to legitimately wonder whether legislators’ votes are influenced by the campaign contributions they receive at this delicate time.
Civil Beat reports scheduled fundraisers under the subtle but critical heading, “Cash Call,” and has noted the potential conflict between the public interest and contributors’ narrow interests when campaign contributions are solicited and accepted while legislation is pending.
Blogger Larry Geller at disappearednews.com has been less circumspect, calling out the practice as essentially corrupt, creating at least the appearance of quid pro quo, pay-to-play corruption, and accusing legislators of checking their ethics at the door when holding session fundraisers.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2013/03/27/18680-hawaii-monitor-time-to-ban-campaign-donations-during-session/
Should legislators be barred from holding fundraising events or soliciting money from lobbyists and interest groups while the Legislature is in session?
These mid-session fundraisers rely heavily on lobbyists and other special interests to write checks to the same legislators who will be deciding whether bills they are backing will pass or not. That’s certainly enough to cause the average person to legitimately wonder whether legislators’ votes are influenced by the campaign contributions they receive at this delicate time.
Civil Beat reports scheduled fundraisers under the subtle but critical heading, “Cash Call,” and has noted the potential conflict between the public interest and contributors’ narrow interests when campaign contributions are solicited and accepted while legislation is pending.
Blogger Larry Geller at disappearednews.com has been less circumspect, calling out the practice as essentially corrupt, creating at least the appearance of quid pro quo, pay-to-play corruption, and accusing legislators of checking their ethics at the door when holding session fundraisers.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2013/03/27/18680-hawaii-monitor-time-to-ban-campaign-donations-during-session/
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