Ogre On NC's Possible New Ethics Legislation

Ogre's Politics and Views The legislature, in response to law-breaking by House speaker Jim Black (Democrat), is preparing to pass ethics legislation that has a little to do with ethics and a lot to do with freedom of speech. The legislation should, according to the House "select" panel (Select means that Jim Black personally picks his friends and knows the outcome before the panel meets), ban gifts from lobbyists and "groups that employ lobbyists." It also wants to ban the conversion of campaign dollars to personal money -- without addressing what could be done with campaign dollars that are not actually spent? Worse, the suggested legislation also supports banning all freedom of political speech by creating "temporary" public financed elections. Of course, keep in mind, the last tax increase from years ago was "temporary," too -- as was the last income tax increase. So, would you support a bill that bans bribes from lobbyists but also bans freedom of speech for everyone else? I wouldn't. Once again, I'd go with the simple solution -- freedom. Let anyone donate whatever they like to anyone they want to -- but disclose everything within 24 hours on the internet.