Charley did a great job summarizing the highlights within the ethics bill. Here are a few more interesting nuggets…
Lobbyists can no longer get “paid for results,” meaning they cannot have a direct financial stake if a bill gets passed or not. I don’t know if this will ratchet down some of their activities, but it is interesting nonetheless.
One noteworthy new loophole: Anyone with a felony conviction involving state public corruption, bribery, campaign finance laws, etc. is prohibited from registering as a lobbyist. Those convicted of federal felonies can still be lobbyists, however (think former speakers).
The state makes it easier to convict dirty pols of tax evasion by requiring that all “income derived from bribes, corrupt gifts and any income gained through illegal activities” be reported on state income tax returns. This should be called the “Wilkerson Law.”
Requires town clerks to post local campaign finance documents online.
Requires political consultants receiving payments from campaign accounts to disclose any and all payments to subcontractors.
For you local government gadflys, meetings of pre-screening committees and ALL subcommittees are now open to the public. Towns will no longer be able to appoint the police chief, fire chief, town planner, and town accountant to a sub-committee and think they’re able to get away with not having to post meetings of the sub-comittee.
