Good. The bill the Senate passed, though an improvement over the debacle released by the Senate “Ethics” Committee (thanks in large part to the praiseworthy efforts of Sen. Eldridge), is still a step in the wrong direction. Why on earth do they think that watering down the Ethics Commission is (a) a good idea, or (b) going to send the right signal to the public?
The conference committee has its work cut out for it. Don’t screw this one up, folks. There’s a lot riding on it.
Please share widely!
Its one of the great risks of trying to reform Beacon Hill. You start out with noble intent and your bill gets filed as a means of cleaning the place up. Then its starts to move and as it meanders its way through the chambers the old school powers that be, that never liked the current law but not because it was too weak, drop amendments cladestinely to weaken what was already there. What was once a reform bill is now a bill undoing previous reform efforts.
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p>Legislators take ethics reform personally. The deal with it like the police closing ranks around a dirty colleague until they can no longer take the political heat and let go.
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p>Thankfully, Patrick will stay on top of this and so will the press so you have to hope something decent will come out. But obviously not after some of the old guard takes a shot at gutting what we have.
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p>Reform on Beacon Hill is not for the politically feint-hearted.
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p>When you have a 90% plurality of one party in office, they lack accountability. In theory, they come up for election, but in reality, Joseph Stalin could run as a Democrat and win. If he ran in the South Coast, he’s not only win, but win by 30-40 points, too!
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p>The people of Massachusetts, seemingly inscrutable creatures of habit, have a reluctance to even consider Republican candidates for state rep or senate positions.
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p>Here’s a reality check for the reality-based community.
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p>Ready? Are you sitting down?
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p>A great many people elected to the Hill, people you voted for and may have even believed in don’t give a shit about you.
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p>Picture the seagulls from Finding Nemo.
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p>MINE! MINE MINE MINE MINE!
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p>So when an attempt is made to curtail their ability to use their elected positions to every personal advantage they can muster, OF COURSE they are going to be against it.
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p>This is why I’m going to recommend that the readers of RMG and BMG and every citizen of this state pay close attention and crucify the people against ethics reform on election day.
We know all of that. That’s a big part of why we started this site. Do you think we started it because we were concerned about the lack of elected Democrats in MA?
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p>A big part of the problem, though, as you undoubtedly know, is that the MA Republicans are so laughably inept that they have virtually no chance of going anywhere. They can’t muster the fortitude to break away from the ridiculous positions of the national GOP, which everyone in MA hates, nor can they come up with a compelling alternative vision of how government ought to operate. “Tax cuts! Tax cuts! Tax cuts!” isn’t going to do it.
These people don’t deserve our respect simply because they are elected officials, because they certainly don’t respect us.
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p>It’s only gotten worse, too. From the inability to take pension reform seriously to the inability to address the tolls issue seriously to an inability to take ethics reform seriously….
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p>What Republicans want to be a part of that? If you ask me, the current elected Republicans have a ton of intestinal fortitude to be there and watch the majority act like a bunch of scumbags while they can’t do anything to really stop it. And new Republicans? Wheres the motivation to run and lose by 20 points regardless of what positions you have? The amount of time and money it takes to run for office makes it unappealing to normal citizens (whom the gov’t should be composed of) to run for office for the sake of having a “contested” race.
is that, around here, “Republican” is a deeply and justifiably damaged brand, both because of the increasingly ridiculous national party and because of the sad tenure of Mitt Romney. It will take years to repair it, and until that happens, they don’t have much shot at increasing their numbers.
I probably disagree with the majority of policy stances Jamie Eldridge, but he his character continues to impress me. Not saying I’d ever vote for the guy, but I certainly laud his efforts to be a man of honor rather than a black hole of self-interest.