Thursday, May 04, 2006

Blunt Ethics?

The Kansas City Star's new political blog, KC Buzz Blog writes that the governor is trying to take the offensive on the question of ethics by prohibiting those on his staff from accepting gifts from lobbyists. It is a good step, but no one thinks that the FBI is asking questions about the governor's office because Press Secretary Spence Jackson accepted a slice at Arris' Pizza Palace from a lobbyist.

Over at KC Buzz Blog, I wrote on a comment:
I'm unclear if the governor is covered himself under this policy. Also--could one accept gifts from non-lobbyists (such as the corporations that lobbyist represent)? What gifts/meals from about political parties or PACs?

What seems strange is the type of gifts the governor is talking about are exactly the the things widely accepted by his father--Rep. Roy Blunt. Does Matt Blunt believe that any other elected official should adopt his rules? Why doesn't he introduce legislation that would require all elected officials in Missouri to uphold this standard?

It is strange that Blunt has focused on one of the ethical areas that he is not under attack for. The nasty thing about ethics reform is that it needs to be comprehensive--campaign contributions, patronage positions, etc. Also, it is appropriate for state lawmakers, then it should apply to the Federal lawmakers as well.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

SLAM! Did you hear that? It's the barn door slamming shut ... long after the livestock are out ... As a Navy reserve officer, I am a bit discouraged that our code of "honor, courage, commitment" did not follow the Boy Gov from his Navy service to his current (temporary) gig.

Randy said...

It should be mentioned that Governor Blunt accepted campaign contributions from more than 100 lobbyists during the 2004 campaign, with only a handful being listed as lobbyists on the Missouri Ethics Commission disclosure documents. During the April 2006 quarterly filing, he received contributions from at least 17 registered lobbyists, with only two being described as such.

Todd said...

Randy, is the failure for the disclosure the fault of the governor or the individual lobbyists (or some collobration between them).

Anonymous said...

Power, money, and influence ... it's tempting to go for it because we all know where it is and how to get it ... our good friends in the R and D camps keep squabbling for it, fighting for it, campaigning for it, accusing each other of getting by fraud or corruption ... and BOTH camps are right (about that), and wrong (about most things) ... I know this gets lost in all the furor, but don't forget I vote, mmkAY?