Ethics and gamesmanship in the Ga. Legislature
The words could almost be considered a threat, a warning shot across the bow from one legislative chamber to the other:
“If the speaker sends a bill that is a total ban (on gifts) and the House has … made a deliberation that they are willing to live under that, then they need to be prepared for that to become law,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle warned almost a month ago, referring to an almost total ban on lobbyist gifts proposed by House Speaker David Ralston.
Cagle’s message to the House was pretty clear: Do not posture on this issue and think that the Senate will save you from yourself. Do not assume that you can pass a strict ethics bill, making yourself look good in the process, and then expect the Senate to play the patsy by killing it.
If you pass it, we’ll pass it too. And then where will we all be?
Since that veiled warning, the House has indeed “made a deliberation” that it is willing to live under a gift ban. In fact, if the House is bluffing in its support for major ethics reform, as Cagle seemed to suggest, it is doing so with gusto. On Monday, it voted 164 to 4 in favor of House Bill 142, the centerpiece bill of Ralston’s gift-ban proposal.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. On the first day of the 2013 session, the Senate tried to cast itself as the more ethical body by adopting an internal rule banning its members from accepting lobbyist gifts worth $100 or more. Senate leaders, including Cagle, were quick to laud themselves for their “decisive action on this critically important issue.”
Then the inter-chamber rivalry began. Ralston declared himself unimpressed with the Senate gift limit, dismissing it as “more of a visor than a cap,” and doing so in Cagle’s presence. His subsequent proposal to ban almost all gifts regardless of value upped the ante considerably and made the Senate’s gesture seem meager by comparison.
So what does the Senate do now? The $100 gift limit is no longer a viable option, and any Senate bill that uses that approach as its standard will be seen by the public as a rejection of reform. The Senate’s institutional pride, not to mention Cagle’s ambition for higher office, will require that it at least match Ralston’s game-changing proposal. And there are certainly places where the Ralston bill can and should be tightened.
The situation would seem to have set up a virtuous cycle, with the two chambers trying to outdo each other in their enthusiasm for reform. But there’s a very real if hidden danger as well.
The nightmare scenario all along has been that the House passes a tough ethics bill, while the Senate passes a different but perhaps equally tough bill. In the final hours of the legislative session, the two chambers reluctantly pronounce themselves unable to come to agreement, which means that neither bill passes. Everybody gets to portray themselves as champions of reform, blaming failure on the other guy, while business as usual continues. A win-win outcome, except for the public.
Could that happen? It’s certainly worth watching. The Legislature has the same ratio of saints to sinners as the population at large, which is another way of saying that beneath the Gold Dome, no saints walk.
But that’s not to say that they have no saint-like attributes. Quite the contrary. As they posture and maneuver on ethics reform, they bring to mind a famous prayer by one of the greatest saints of all, Saint Augustine.
“Dear God,” Augustine prayed. “Please make me good and chaste. But not just yet.”
– Jay Bookman
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318 comments Add your comment
moonbat betty
March 1st, 2013
12:11 pm
“moonbat betty; I AM”
Fred, that’s awesome! We have talked about doing it for years, but I have never been in the restaurant biz, and it scares the crap out of me.
I think it is a great idea. I can’t believe some hasn’t done it yet.
If it’s done right I think it would be a big hit.
Best of luck to you.
You will have a loyal customer here!
Fred ™
March 1st, 2013
12:11 pm
Ahhh……. my stalker Alex is showing me love again. Hi alex, you STILL ain’t getting none. I know unrequited love can be tough but hang in there, you’ll find someone some day.
indigo
March 1st, 2013
12:12 pm
pete – 11:01
Please furnish a list of all the things “moochers” are getting from Obama as, so, I have not gotten a thing.
Thank you.
by golly
March 1st, 2013
12:13 pm
td-do you know what LMFAO means? A good christian soldier like you using that kind of language?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
March 1st, 2013
12:13 pm
SHEETZ!
td
March 1st, 2013
12:15 pm
Brosephus™ -What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?
March 1st, 2013
12:05 pm
If Federal workers do not like what is going on then they always have the CHOICE of finding a job in the private sector that better fits their skill set and pay demands.
Oh yeah, dumbass, and where are they going to find these magical jobs right now?
Create your own like so many in the private sector has had to do the past 4 years? If the Federal workers do not have a choice, like you stated, then there only other choice is to suck it up and take the days like a man (the same as most state workers did for the past 4 years) and stop whining about it every other day.
You could also tell Obama to stop trying to make this little cut as painful as possible to you and come up with some other ways to cut the budget (like cutting out Obamacare).
Fred ™
March 1st, 2013
12:16 pm
This coming from the person that spews nothing but Obama propaganda day after day after day. LMFAO
I’ll call THAT lie as well. Show me an example of where I have spewed “Obama propaganda.”
Oh and LMFAO is a band little man. Here check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8
RB from Gwinnett
March 1st, 2013
12:17 pm
East Lake, “Take it up with the county you frigging nitwit.”
Yea, Ira, cause running down the the government office and bitching at the people you need your license from is always a good idea. In fact, it’s just as good an idea as bitching at the people who can fine you for whatever if they feel like it and it’s up to you to try to fight it if you don’t like it.
And just to give you a little education on how things really work….the unemployment office is NOT a county agency and neither is the child support crew. And I really don’t care if they’re currently under D or R control, they’re KILLING US!!!!
Brosephus™ -What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?
March 1st, 2013
12:25 pm
Create your own like so many in the private sector has had to do the past 4 years?
What??? If they’ve been doing that, then why have you and other right wing dipsh*ts been whining about U6 unemployment and such? Seems as though you have no idea of what the hell you’re talking about. If I were you, I’d quit before I made a complete ass of myself, but we’ve already seen you have no such qualms.
If the Federal workers do not have a choice, like you stated, then there only other choice is to suck it up and take the days like a man (the same as most state workers did for the past 4 years) and stop whining about it every other day.
Have you seen a mass exodus of federal employees? What in the hell do you think they’re doing? Geez, talk about being stuck on stoopid.
You could also tell Obama to stop trying to make this little cut as painful as possible to you and come up with some other ways to cut the budget (like cutting out Obamacare).
And you can tell your GOP House Representatives to do their job and present appropriations bills to fund the government. If everybody’s so sold on GOP spending cuts, they should have no problem with making that case to the American people instead of whining about Obama and all things Obama such as you just did, right?
Keep on licking the ideology lollypop. Conservatives have a better chance at selling Bigfoot to the American public when compared to their current ideology.
DownInAlbany
March 1st, 2013
12:27 pm
stands for decibels – Private Pyle has a full magazine that is locked and loaded
March 1st, 2013
11:28 am
If you are in favor of single-payer, you have no idea how the medical field works.
MikeB
March 1st, 2013
12:28 pm
No worries Fred…. Maybe when you actually have that restaurant you will through your own experiences dealing with bureaucracy, come to understand what we attempting to share with you already know…..
Moral authority occurs when the talking out of both sides of the mouth stop….. Until then, what afflicts the federal govt. will trickle down to the states, and to the municipalities from there…. Sure the American way is to get “hands dirty” on the way up…. But once you get there…. Do you transform and change????? Obama said he would. If he did, it would have had an effect on the trickle down by now as well….
He didn’t and now he has to own it…. Again… Other more experienced policians knew to stay away from campaigning in that manner…. Should he get a pass from making those campaign statements about changing politics in D.C., transparency and bipartisanship?
Is that what you are sayin? If it is, than how can you complain about what goes on at the state level?
Its got nothing to do with party (I called out Bush for the Iraq war… The only benefit of it was it kept terrorists occupied over there), color of skin or a news source (I read/watch em all.. Call BS when I see it too..)
DownInAlbany
March 1st, 2013
12:32 pm
Brosephus™ -What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?
March 1st, 2013
11:53
The f**ked up thing about it all is that, in a situation like this, the private sector worker can easily go and get a 2nd job to make up lost income. Many fed positions have restrictions as to 2nd jobs and such, so there are those who can’t go out to make up that lost income.
Were you aware of these restrictions when the job was accepted? Then, shut up and quit whining about it!
Brosephus™ -What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?
March 1st, 2013
12:38 pm
Were you aware of these restrictions when the job was accepted? Then, shut up and quit whining about it!
You don’t find out about those restrictions until after the fact. Obviously, you did not read my entire post. I will be ok. I am not whining about anything. Mick asked a question, and I gave him an answer. So, you can’t take your shut up and do it yourself.
Fred ™
March 1st, 2013
12:40 pm
No worries Fred…. Maybe when you actually have that restaurant you will through your own experiences dealing with bureaucracy, come to understand what we attempting to share with you already know…..
Your lack of reading comprehension skills is something else that prohibits me from having an intelligent conversation with you. I have been in business for myself for over 20 years son. I doubt there is much you can teach me, especially since you can’t read OR tell the truth. You have no credibility with me so I would not listen. You have shown a propensity to exaggerate, tell outright lies, and now you show you can’t comprehend the written word. Why would I want advise from you?
MikeB
March 1st, 2013
12:48 pm
Love your self rightious indignet tone there Fred….. Some how you may make it…. In spite of yourself…. Calling me what I am not, exposes who you are and what you stand for… Guess you figured if it worked for Obama it would work for you….. Hehehe…
Would wish you luck, but you are too brainwashed and immature to know what to do with it…. The definition of insanity applies to you, so I will beg off and terminate my involvement with you….
East Lake Ira
March 1st, 2013
12:57 pm
RB – so you DO have a problem with the REPUBLICANS. Also too, if you made better “hiring” decisions, this wouldn’t be an issue but as a true rightwing nutter you can’t accept any responsibility for YOUR actions and mistakes.
Man up. Pull your undies out of your crack and own your bad decisions.
They call me MISTER JamVet.
March 1st, 2013
1:15 pm
You are not going to find a black man with character in the GOP.
I disagree.
Granted they have some flaming losers like West, Cain and Keyes.
But they also have Watts and Powell. And to some lesser extent, Steele and Elder
Bright guys who at least recognize that their ultra-xenophobic, reactionary party has HUGE problems and are trying to contain the contagion from within….
St Simons - he-ne-ha
March 1st, 2013
2:11 pm
whoa, had a tax ‘mergency. I SAID i wasn’t doing taxes this year.
but nobody listens to me.
i like friday. Yall are some funny somb**es on here on Fri.