Video Special: Conflicts Don’t Stop Lawmakers from Voting
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To many it sounds simple enough.
If a city councilman, county commissioner, or state lawmaker has a conflict of interest on an issue they shouldn’t vote.
Well two out of three isn’t bad. In Nebraska the state lawmaker can vote.
But following an ongoing investigation by Nebraska Watchdog lawmakers are now considering a bill that would tighten the conflict question, tighten it but not end it.
Reported by Joe Jordan, joe@nebraskawatchdog.org
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Posted under Audio, News, State Politics.
Tags: Bill Avery, Frank Daley, Joe Jordan, Nebraska Watchdog
10:25 am on January 25th, 2012
This should also apply to school board members that are married to teachers in the district the board member serves. That member should not vote to approve or disapprove a teacher’s salary contract since he/she does receive benefit from that vote.
11:46 am on January 26th, 2012
If an elected or appointed official take money from an industry or lobbyist for an industry, they should not be allowed to vote on an issue that would help or hurt that industry or lobbyist.
2:16 pm on January 26th, 2012
In which case, Sixpack, our elected officials at nearly every level wouldn’t be able to vote on pretty much anything, the “contribution” money being plentiful and multiple.
This cries out more than ever for two things: Overturning the SCOTUS’s Citizens United ruling by a Constitutional Amendment that Corporations are NOT people and do NOT have any of the rights or privileges of personhood, and the Public Financing of all campaigns, limiting any individual to no more than $100 total in contributions to any one candidate or issue.
5:54 pm on January 26th, 2012
Put a $1000.00 cap on all political contributions. That way the regular people that can toss in $50 or $100 toward a campaign have a voice as important as the corporations and unions that now throw tens of thousands of dollars at the politicians.