CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 OR THEREAFTER
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“SENATORS CLEARLY PREFER MONEY OVER TRUST”
There was a clear message when the
state Senate in mid-June first rejected a ban on legislators taking campaign
contributions during the last 100 days of each lawmaking session, and then
partially reversed itself to finally pass a watered-down version covering a
much shorter time period.
That message: “We would rather have
money than trust.”
The flurry of Senate action came just
over two months after it refused to expel three senators who had been either
indicted or convicted for perjury or selling their votes and services. Instead,
the senators were suspended, leaving millions of citizens without full
representation and no hope of getting it soon.
The Senate’s initial rejection, strikingly, came on the
very day that two members of the state Assembly paid fines for taking
illegally high contributions.
Is it any wonder that a springtime
national poll showed California among just seven states where the majority of
citizens don’t trust either state or local government to act honestly?
Had the Senate passed the last-100-day
contribution ban, it would have been a major start toward restoring trust, as
far from perfection as a three-month ban would nevertheless be. For there can
never be a ban or a limit on promises lobbyists might make during any time
span about future contributions or favors.
But even after it took a week of heat
over its initial move, where it adopted a fig leaf consisting of a one-year,
one-month, end-of-session ban on members soliciting or accepting contributions,
the Senate wasn’t willing even to go to 100 days. Instead, after 100-day
sponsor Sen. Alex Padilla wrangled a batch of Republican votes, the
Democrat-dominated upper house passed a bill forbidding all legislators from
soliciting or accepting contributions from lobbyists and their clients from
Aug. 1 until each legislative session’s scheduled end on Aug. 31.
A similar ban will cover
the month prior to passage of each year’s budget. The initial Senate-only
resolution also applied during this summer’s budget negotiations, but since it
passed just days before a budget agreement came, the add-on didn’t mean much.
The virtually meaningless initial
resolution was a sop to Padilla, the Democratic nominee for secretary of
state.
Perhaps the most telling thing about
all the Senate action was that its resolution – a measure of what majority
Democrats really want -- doesn’t apply to any Assembly members and thus leaves
out two-thirds of all legislators. There's also the fact it was a
resolution, not a law.
So it wouldn’t be binding beyond this
year. Next year, with the pressure presumably off from the indictments and
convictions of Democratic Sens. Rod Wright, Ron Calderon and Leland Yee, who
knew whether senators would bother to renew it? The later passage of a real
bill, a potential law, means the new ban, while shorter than the 100 days
Padilla wanted, would apply in all years and to all legislators – if the
Assembly passes it, too.
But all this is still much ado about
very little. For if it’s possible for lobbyists to make promises during a
100-day period, it’s even easier for them to do that during a mere month-long
hiatus. Which makes all the Senate actions far too lenient.
This didn’t stop big talk from key
senators. Said the Senate’s newly-elected president-to-be, Democrat Kevin De
Leon of Los Angeles immediately after the initial resolution passed, the rule
intended to “ensure that members of the Senate are focused exclusively on
legislative business at these crucial times in the legislative calendar.” Yeah,
right. These good folks are certain to forget about fund-raising just because
they can’t actually accept checks for a few days.
Back in early spring, some of Sacramento’s
most prolific fund-raisers said even Padilla’s desired 100-day ban would
accomplish little. “It’s just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” said Dan
Weitzman, who gathers funds for Democrats. What passed would be weaker.
All of which means the Senate actions
amount to little more than a public relations ploy, intended to convince
skeptical voters their legislators really are trustworthy. Good luck
with that.
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Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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