Ethics Reform

Source: news.yahoo.com --- 14 days ago
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue speaks passionately about clean government and her ideas to reduce money's influence on politics, like a private endowment for gubernatorial candidates who agree to fundraising restrictions. ...

Source: news.search.yahoo.com --- 24 days ago
More than a dozen legislators signed a pledge Wednesday, vowing to support Ethics legislation next session that would strengthen lawmakers' disclosure requirements and prohibit using campaign contributions for things like clothes and car repairs. ...

Source: www.nydailynews.com --- 23 days ago
Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio's arrest on corruption charges shows that Albany still needs sweeping Ethics reforms, government watchdog groups said Thursday, urging Gov. Paterson and state lawmakers to act quickly. ...

Source: www.stltoday.com --- 19 days ago
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Source: www.stltoday.com --- 20 days ago
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois Senate is set to convene in special session this afternoon for a final vote on a landmark campaign Ethics Reform package. It's opposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich , but supported by Democratic presidential nominee (and Illinois… ...

Source: www.ksl.com --- 5 days ago
A group urging lawmakers to consider major Ethics reforms on Capitol Hill is accusing House leaders of bullying tactics and a push to silence critics. The rancor comes in the context of a political system more flush with campaign cash than ever. ...

Source: www.ksl.com --- 2 days ago
The allegation that one Utah state legislator "propositioned" another with $50,000 in campaign money to switch positions on school vouchers has sparked the strongest push for Ethics Reform in Utah in years. But Ethics proposals in recent decades have typically gone nowhere. ...

Source: www.ksl.com --- 5 days ago
The woman whose letter sparked a Capitol Hill Ethics battle has strong words for the lawmaker who admits leaking it to the media. ...

Source: www.realclearpolitics.com --- 4 days ago
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Source: blog.nj.com --- 14 days ago
Praise for Gov. Jon Corzine's comprehensive Ethics package has been bipartisan and deserved. If enacted, the rewriting of government Ethics standards will go a long way toward eliminating many of the practices that have resulted in a parade of... ...

Source: blogs.orlandosentinel.com --- 29 days ago
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Suzanne Kosmas promised today that she would not take a pay raise if elected to Congress nor would she ever become a congressional lobbyist after her service, manuevers aimed at separting herself from opponent U.S. Rep. Tom... ...

Source: scottishright.squarespace.com --- 26 days ago
Both the Chicago Sun-Times and the head of an organization supportive of political Reform have called on Senator Obama to intervene in a battle between the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor over an Ethics Reform bill.  In summary, the issue is over whose version of Ethics Reform is better.  The Illinois General Assembly sent an Ethics Reform bill to Governor Blagojevich that would prohibit certain political donations to constitutional officers (read: Governor) that are made by entities regulated by the State.  The Governor used his amendatory veto power to broaden the bill to apply the same contribution prohibitions to legislators and political committees.  He went a few steps further by including language to prohibit non-elected government employees from membership in the Illinois General Assembly.  In particular, the Governor has been very critical of legislators who work for the City of Chicago or Cook County while holding seats in the General Assembly.  The Governor believes that these legislators amount to nothing more than toadies for Mayor Daley and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.  The Governor's amendatory veto also requires disclosure of any lobbying activities conducted by state legislators and candidates for the General Assembly.  Finally, the re-write also changes the way salaries are determined for public officials.  Some believe that the Governor's changes are nothing more than a tactic to make the bill ...

Source: www.sltrib.com --- 20 days ago
What do you call a place with no limits on contributions to political campaigns? Where lawmakers police themselves, and only act on Ethics complaints from their peers? ...

Source: cbs2chicago.com --- 23 days ago
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has a warning for Sen. Barack Obama. He predicts that before the presidential election, Obama will regret supporting Ethics legislation that Blagojevich calls inadequate. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports. ...

Source: www.democratandchronicle.com --- 30 days ago
In the wake of charges by a federal prosecutor that a Queens assemblyman solicited $500,000 in bribes from people trying to influence state government, Reform groups Thursday renewed their calls for tougher state Ethics laws. ...

Source: blogs.dailyherald.com --- 32 days ago
The 118-member Illinois House just voted 110-0 to reject the governor's changes to Ethics legislation and reinstate the provisions as they were initially and overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate. Basically the plan prohibits companies with state contracts from donating to those who award the contracts. Blagojevich's campaign has pocketed gobs from firms doing business with the state. Blagojevich decided to tack on numerous provisions including barring people with some -- but not all -- other government jobs from serving in the General Assembly. (They already cannot legally collect a paycheck from their outside government jobs while in Springfield). read more ...

Source: blogs.dailyherald.com --- 24 days ago
First the news: Gov. Rod Blagojevich has ordered a special session of the General Assembly for 1 p.m. Monday to address "real Ethics Reform." From there it gets confusing: Lawmakers teamed up this spring to come up with a plan that focused primarily on banning business with state contracts from helping finance the campaigns of the officials who award those contracts. The governor has time and again lined his campaign warchest with donations from those doing business with the state. It's generally referred to as pay-to-play. Back when a coalition of lawmakers announced this deal, they said they were unified and if the governor dared veto or change the deal, they'd quickly override his move. Well, that happened. read more ...

Source: blogs.dailyherald.com --- 17 days ago
Apparently the governor's no longer impressed with that "monumental" and "revolutionary" Reform package he signed during his first year in office. In fact, he no longer seems to acknowledge it. Consider these two news releases. (I highlighted some of the good parts) First up … December 9, 2003 Blagojevich signs monumental Ethics reforms into law Comprehensive package meets goals laid-out in Governor’s spring veto; Gives Illinois real, meaningful Ethics Reform for the first time read more ...

Source: tcdailyplanet.net --- 11 days ago
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Source: www.rrstar.com --- 32 days ago
When is ending pay-to-play politics in Illinois just playing? When you are Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and you have used your executive power to veto and rewrite Ethics legislation that has been carefully crafted for more than three years. Below this editorial you will find the governor’s convincing defense of his changes. We agree that several elements make a lot of sense and, in fact, are things the Editorial Board has been pushing for years. For example, lawmakers should have to vote on their pay raises instead of the current system, by which they get a raise unless they vote it down. But Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes was right when he said a month ago he suspected Blagojevich would improve the bill to death — in other words, include so many “poison pills” in his rewrite that lawmakers couldn’t choke it down. They are the same lawmakers, mind you, who voted overwhelmingly for the Ethics bill in the spring session. That kind of approval is no mean feat when it comes to Ethics legislation, which has to be lawyered, relawyered and lawyered again. House Bill 824 had been in the making since 2005 and, although no law is airtight, its authors were fairly sure it would survive court challenges. And lawmakers — who naturally get out the fine-toothed comb when it comes to campaign donations — were OK with it, too. Blagojevich’s rewrite throws that all up for grabs. Which — let’s face it — is exactly where the governor wants it to be: up for ...