Arkansas Blog

No good place to put this. Just read where Joe Rosenthal died at age 94.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/08/21/MNROSENTHAL.DTL&o=1

No good place to put this. Just read where Joe Rosenthal died at age 94.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/08/21/MNROSENTHAL.DTL&o=1

The whole relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists is much more distant now,"

Ya, sure, take a look at the financial disclosure reports for our esteemed Ledge and those running. No glaring lack of lobbyist contributions there.

I noticed that you never had an item on the Dem/Gaz article a few weeks ago about Sen. Jeffress and others driving long distances rather than fly to milk the mileage per diem (and of course take their wives on the state's penny).

Lobbyist are killing our country, inflicting far more damage than Osama every day. The whole system is a hold-over from the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. Our country did not start with lobbyists, but it sure could end because of them. They are the cancer of politics. They service the rich at the expense of everyone else.

A few laws like those mentioned in this article is a good way to start the task of ridding the country of every last lobbyist. If our leaders are so stupid they have to have a lobbyist to tell them what to do, they're too stupid to be in office. It's a political 3 card Monte game that should be put out of business.

It is to our shame that Arkansas is not on the list of states working towards reform. Another clue Arkansas is just one big plantation and Massa is keeping us down. We can't expect those who are already enjoying the lobbyist 30 pieces of silver to reform themselves. We need a strong candidate who will pledge to start lobby reform in Arkansas now.

If elected, we'll need a longer memory to hold him or her to their promise. The foxes have been in the hen house for nearly 150 years. It's going to take some powerful medicine to run them off.

It's that darn constitution. You know the part about free association and free speech. Petitioning your representative and all that. I wish we could ban money from the political process altogether but alas it is not to be. I would hope that lobby laws are constitutional but I have my doubts.

ARK. BLOGOther states have outlawed gifts and meals for lawmakers. The inability to purchase a lawmaker a martini doesn't inhibit your ability to speak to him/her. (Or does it?)

The truth is that Arkansas' political theater, lobbyists factor in only in the most marginal sense.

With the strictest term limits in the nation, Arkansas legislators have little incentive to playcate lobbyists to finance a future campaign that can't legally happen. I've seen more than one occasion where a legislator received a contribution from an interest group even after he voted against them on a crucial issue as they try to woo him again. An explosion of lobbyists in the past few years have likewise ensured that they are being wooed by more voices and so do not build the kind of loyalty that existed ten years ago.

Anyone that has spent time around the rotunda the past few sessions will echo the sentiment. Lobbyists don't factor in on the local level as they do nationally.

And not to advocate too much for the devil but..

"A few laws like those mentioned in this article is a good way to start the task of ridding the country of every last lobbyist. If our leaders are so stupid they have to have a lobbyist to tell them what to do, they're too stupid to be in office."

The ACLU, Common Cause, ACORN, the American Heart Association, NAACP and NOW all have lobbyists.

Also represented by lobbyists: heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, electrical engineers, locamotive engineers, the little engine that could...

Like it or not, lobbyists play a huge role in educating legislators on issues and that will NEVER change. All legislators depend on advocates of issues to provide SOME information on the thousands of votes they cast every session. Every member of our state legislature and state delegation included.

THAT my friend is the most dangerous thing about lobbyists in AR. It's not the meals they buy at NU or Does or Faded Rose. It's the fact that our severly term limited legislature so lacks that institutional memory that they are forced to depend on lobbyists for info on everything from seat belts to schools to railroad crossings.

I can safely say at least one Arkansas lobbyist was there.

OH!!! I forgot the largest lobby in the country...

"AARP says it will be hitting the road in Arkansas this election season, taking a message by van around the state on some issues important to its membership (and others.) Key issues: 1) reform of long-term care; 2) protecting people who live in nursing homes; 3) (here's one for everybody) protecting consumers from the sharks known as payday lenders."

Lobbyists write the laws; the foxes ate the hens long ago. Term limits just reinforce the strength of lobbyists and weaken legislative competence. A strong executive branch could become downright dictatorial if so inclined. Who would be there to watch out for those who do not wield power and money?

Now wait Basil....are you saying the people we elect are too stupid to do their jobs unless a lobbyist tells them what to do on a daily basis? Wouldn't we be better off electing the lobbyist and cutting out the middle man?

When I say ban lobbyist, I'm mostly talking about banning the money, the trips, the gifts. I don't know of an American way to ban adults from talking to each other. Let lobbyist knock on the doors during regular business hours like all the rest of us. Take their name and purpose and write it in the book of life for all to see.

If a legislator is out having a late dinner, it better be his wife or his mistress and not some cigar chomping lobbyist from AP & L or the West Memphis dog track.

When I had a business, at times I'd ask advice. Most of the time I got way too much unsolicited advice from winos on up. But best I can remember I didn't slip money or gifts to the people I got advice from, nor did anyone give me a gold door knocker when I helped them out of a bind. So...why must our term-limited whores in government be such magnets for gifts and money?

I think about 99.99% of us got up this morning, did our jobs and all we got was a paycheck. How are our jobs any different than Representative Sammy "Red" Butts?

All the business of governing is boring, but very little of it is rocket science. Paron school isn't hard to figure out, it's just tossing that political football around in an election year that makes it so hard.