Thank you Warwick for such thoughtful and ethical action for Arkansas! You are working hard for this good state! From my friend, Warwick Sabin... Arkansas last night adopted some of the strongest political ethics reforms in the nation by banning corporate campaign contributions, prohibiting all lobbyist gifts to elected officials, and extending the cooling-off period between serving in elected office and becoming a lobbyist from one year to two years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to defeat the proposal, while no money was spent in its behalf. This effort started at the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, when I introduced three bills (HB1923, HB1924, HB1925) that contained the three ethics reforms described above. When it was clear that the legislation was not getting any traction, I bundled them together into a constitutional amendment proposal. Soon I was approached by State Senator Jon Woods, who asked if he could include his idea to create an independent citizens commission to set the salaries for all of the consitutional offices in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. These commissions exist in several other states, and they serve to remove political considerations (both selfish and punitive) from the salary-setting process. Not long after that, Sen. Woods and I were asked to consider adding a provision to modify the current legislative term limits so that the current 16-year cumulative total (six years in the House, ten years in the Senate) would be preserved, but would allow legislators to spend those 16 years in whatever way he or she could be elected (all in one chamber, or divided between the two). The Regnat Populus citizens group, which originally proposed the ethics measures in 2012, was represented during all of these negotiations, and they signed off on every compromise. This compromise package received overwhelming bi-partisan support and passed the House and Senate by large margins. It was therefore referred to Arkansas voters on the 2014 General Election ballot, and it passed last night. That means starting today, corporations cannot donate money to candidates for elected office, and lobbyists cannot purchase drinks, meals, or anything else of value for an elected official -- not even a cup of coffee.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:04:03 +0000
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