Connecticut is a cute little state with lots to recommend it.  We have miles of shoreline, the best pizza on the planet (honest!), fabulous universities, proximity to both New York and Boston (makes for some interesting baseball discussions at times), quaint white churches, and many other delights.  Why then, did the "Land of Steady Habits" gain the habit of corruption?  Mayors had problems with cocaine, sex crimes, taking bribes, you name it - and  then Governor Rowland excelled in corruption and accepting hot tubs from contractors.  So much went wrong in such a small state. Perhaps the corruption had its roots in the contrast of the extraordinary wealth of Fairfield County with the stark poverty present in Bridgeport and Waterbury.  

The true reasons why may never be elucidated, but the entrenched corruption did no favors to Connecticut's residents.  This is why the ethics reform passed last week is so remarkable.  For Connecticut to become one of the leading states in ethics reform took major efforts on both the part of the legislature and the advocacy groups that strive every day to protect the citizens in our fair state.  Both legislators and activists have wrestled for years to try and enact reform that would be fair and comprehensive.  One issue that was especially difficult to grapple with was the issue of pension revocation.  There were heated arguments on both sides of this issue which searched for middle ground.  Finally, reform was passed that included pension revocation, but left it up to the court's discretion on whether to remove a pension in response to wrong doing by a state employee.  With some wiggle room left for discretion and compassion, the legislation was able to move forward with supporters on all sides, but it took a great effort and much debate to get there.

Connecticut Common Cause played a major part in getting the ethics reform bill passed.  For years we worked with GAE committee leaders on drafting pension revocation language that was both effective and judicious.  This year, we tried to facilitate communications between the House and Senate in adopting a ethics bill that was acceptable to all.  Finally, Common Cause held a joint press conference with legislative leaders on the legislation to shore up public support and ensure that the Governor would back the bill.  Our efforts paid off, and Connecticut will face the future with a clean face and a fresh start.

At a time when the Congress has absolutely earned its "do-nothing" title, the Senate at least could make a tiny step towards redemption by passing a small but significant reform. "The Campaign Disclosure Parity Act," S. 1508, is a very brief no-brainer piece of  legislation, bipartisan through and through.

The legislation would right a longtime disclosure wrong.  Senators, unlike their House counterparts, are not required to file their campaign finance reports electronically.  Instead, they report on paper, and then the pages and pages of contributors are imputed manually by the folks at the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Kudos to USA Today for yesterday's editorial laying out in simple terms the lack of real committment to reform from this Congress.  They count them off - Cunningham, Abramoff, Jefferson, Ney...and who knows how many others brewing?

What they're selling, the American public better not buy.  There's no ban on the privately-funded travel that got Abramoff, DeLay and Ney in trouble, and other "reforms" are off the weakest possible sort.

Well-stated, and hopefully well-heeded.

The 109th Congress promised ethics reform in response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and has responded by steadily eroding the core values of the promises - travel bans and stronger ethics enforcement. Now, the House and Senate have the audacity to scale back the weak lobbyist disclosure measures that were passed in place of substantive reform. The House lobbyist disclosure bill passed May 3 and the House has yet to name negotiators to work on a compromise with the Senate. Therefore, Congress may adjourn this year without tightening restrictions on the dealings of lobbyists' with lawmakers. So much for lobbying reform in 2006.

The two chambers disagree on a number of provisions. For example, House Republicans contend that 527s, independent interest groups that run political ads, should be curbed. Senate Democrats, and a handful of Senate Republicans, have opposed these changes while failing to offer a tangible reform plan as an alternative.

If lobbyists are happy then Congress has failed. The bicameral impasse can be blamed on the House and Senate's lack of sincerity when promising reform measures. It is appalling that the most likely way to return reform to the negotiating table is another scandal. Lawmakers' proclivity is to respond to public demand. Maybe the public is not shouting loudly enough.

The North Carolina House is gearing up to look at the ethics and lobbying bill that passed in the state senate on July 19. Last year, the so-called "goodwill" lobbying loophole that allowed lobbyists to wine and dine lawmakers as long as legislation was never discussed was closed. With ethics and lobbying reform in the public eye, the NC legislature is now trying to define what, exactly, constitutes a "gift." The state senate is now looking to exempt anything deemed "personal."

While some lawmakers and lobbyists argue that it's not that simple, saying gift bans could be too oppressive, lawmakers defending the ethics legislation as it stands have pointing out that the bill will make noteworthy changes in monitoring how government does business.

The Miami Herald has an excellent editorial today on the lack of progress on election reform.

Senator John McCain has described ethics reform in this Congress as "The great disappearing act."  Indeed, it has disappeared off the list of priorities of many politicians, and we can only hope that it'll be high on the list of concerns of voters this November.

On Wednesday, the North Carolina Senate voted 47-1 to overhaul the state's ethics and lobbying laws.  

The Senate bill would strengthen the State Ethics Commission, an ethics board created in 1977 that lacks "teeth," according to Senator Dan Clodfelter.  The Commission came under fire last year when it failed to investigate former state lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings, who worked for a lottery vendor during office.

The new Commission would have the authority to investigate ethics charges against all three branches of government and review comprehensive financial disclosure records for conflicts of interest.  But as was previously revealed on the blog, charges against judges and lawmakers would be heard by the preexisting Legislative Ethics Commission.  In addition to lacking independent oversight, many of the new Commission's hearings would be conducted behind closed doors.

The bill also proscribes all donations from lobbyists to political candidates and requires lobbyists to report their expenditures, which can no longer include gifts to lawmakers other than food and entertainment at public events, on a monthly basis.

Elected politicians have proven once again that unless citizen advocacy groups apply constant pressure, we won't be seeing any ethics reform.

This reminds me of that short time period which followed the Abramoff scandal, where politicians everywhere were advocating serious ethics reform. Eventually, as time passed and the public eye turned to other issues, the government passed weak ethics legislation. It is clear as ever that our politicians will never clean up their act unless we prod them along.