Push to Control Conflicts of Interest Looks Dead
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Despite the backing of the state’s top lawmaker, a push to tighten Nebraska’s conflict of interest law is apparently dead.
Nebraska Watchdog has learned that a bill aimed solely at state senators—to try and keep them from voting on issues where they have a conflict— is going nowhere.
The bill, which was supported by Speaker Mike Flood, failed to get enough votes to make it out of committee, according to State Senator Bill Avery.
Avery tells Nebraska Watchdog because the legislation did not stop senators from voting if they have a conflict, some committee members felt the bill did little more than the current law. At the same time though Avery says no one offered an amendment to prohibit voting.
An ongoing Nebraska Watchdog investigation into the conflict question exposed an uneven state policy in which city councilman and county board members are prohibited from voting if they have a conflict, while state lawmakers are allowed to vote.
Avery says five votes were needed to send the bill to the floor. He says the Government Committee vote was 3-3 with two senators not voting.
Those voting for the bill were Avery, Rich Pahls and Norm Wallman. Russ Karpisek, Les Seiler and Kate Sullivan voted no. Charlie Janssen and Scott Price abstained.
Technically the bill remains in committee but Avery says he thinks “it’s dead.”
Reported by Joe Jordan, joe@nebraskawatchdog.org
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Posted under News, State Politics.
Tags: Bill Avery, Frank Daley, Joe Jordan, Mike Flood, Nebraska Watchdog
10:00 am on January 26th, 2012
Lawmakers, chief executives and bureaucrats do not typically yield power unless the people demand that they do so. However journalists concede power when their reports fall on deaf ears…
10:53 am on January 26th, 2012
Perhaps Nebraskans should be watching their elected officials at the State level more closely. If they vote on something that represents a conflict of interest, then perhaps it is time to RETIRE that person and put someone new into that spot! Of course, that means that citizens who voted for that official must be willing to forgo their padding their personal interests by whatever means possible and do what is good for the State as a whole . . . . what a novel idea!!!!!
10:57 am on January 26th, 2012
You are surprised that a bunch of scumbag pols let a proposal die that might have put a crimp in their ability to wield influence or profit from their official actions died??? Applies equally to pols of both parties at all levels of government.
12:31 pm on January 26th, 2012
Unfortunately, the misbegotten concept of imposed term limits was supposed to achieve the goal you wanted, Turtle. Term limits are a poor idea at best, as the best term limit is VTBU – Vote The Bum Out. The law was backed and passed for one purpose and one purpose only: Remove Ernie Chambers, which is unfortunate, because when you truly do have a good legislator with lots of institutional knowledge you want to keep them around long term.
The BIGGEST flaw in what you assert though, Turtle, is that we now CAN NOT recall our State Senators or Governor, since while they were totally unable to pass any pipeline regulatory legislation in the 2011 Regular Session, the Koch-sponsored, AfP/Tea Party backed members of our Unicameral WERE successful in passing legislation which Governor Heineyman was more than readily eager to sign that exempted them all from recall – this in DIRECT response to what was occurring in Wisconsin when their out of control Legislature and Governor went on a ultra-conservative ideological jihad and the people of Wisconsin fought back by mounting recall efforts (successfully) against certain State Senators and now against their Governor, turning in TWICE the number of valid signatures required to call a recall election against him – this despite the enactment of voter restriction and voter disenfranchisement laws in Wisconsin virtually identical to those being proposed here in Nebraska by Koch-ALEC tools like Sen. Charlie Janssen (is it no wonder he abstained from a vote on a bill that would impose ethics on himself?) who also want to limit the ability of eligible people to vote by creating a solution to a problem that DOES NOT exist.