The remedy is not to attempt to restrict the constitutional rights of special-interest groups. The remedy is to create other institutions to exercise free speech in rebuttal.
As long as governments can dispense billions of dollars of other people’s money, groups will spend their own time and money trying to work the system to their benefit.
To regain the public trust, and to set right at least some of what has gone so horribly wrong, state policymakers must be forthright, resolute, and bold.
Ever pull an all-nighter, either to finish a project or cram for a test, and then congratulate yourself on your prodigious efforts – only to see the results later on and be disappointed?
Tuesday was a hot one in NC’s capital city — and yet it wasn’t as hot as predicted. Figuratively speaking, some legislators are hoping the same thing.
Do reform-oriented lawmakers and activists mean what they say when advocating measures to make legislative deliberations more open, fair, and, well, deliberative?
The right to lobby government officials is protected by state and federal constitutions. But rules that require disclosure and distinguish lobbying from bribery are proper in a republican form of government.
No one should doubt that the practice of lobbying encompasses activities clearly protected by the state and federal constitutions. Reform is not about abridging these freedoms.
Several hotly debated issues will be disposed of one way or the other this week as the General Assembly tries to wrap up the 2005 session. They include minimum wage, lottery, lobbying, and death penalty proposals.
RALEIGH — The N.C. House Finance Committee, with some reservations, passed a lobbying reform bill Tuesday after two days of hearings. The legislation would tighten disclosure requirements for lobbyists of the legislative and executive branches of government. It would also place limits on gifts for public officials and make sure lawmakers and agency heads could not go to work as lobbyists for at least one year after leaving their government positions.
Two Senate committees are preparing to consider a bill that would tighten lobbying laws. Rather than seeing the effort as a challenge, key lawmakers ought to seize the opportunity.
