…when they meet with lobbyists.
I’d vote for that!
No you won’t, because it will never become an issue. Politicians are too important to be scrutinized.
How 'bout we just don’t let them meet lobbyists?
I’d vote for that!
Without going into too many details, I was in a situation a couple years back where some state legislators were caught with their hands in a cookie jar and in response the statehouse was going to pass a law making a certain type of transaction illegal. Well, it was one of those things where it sounded good on the surface but it actually made an entire category of small businesses illegal as well, and my wife happened to own one of them.
We got together with a bunch of other small business owners who were in the same boat, divided up the list of legislators, and called all of them to explain the unintended consequence of the bill they were considering. Most of them said, essentially, “Oops, sorry, we didn’t mean that. I’ll introduce an amendment to fix it.”
By doing this, we were lobbyists who were engaged in lobbying for our industry. Is there some reason we shouldn’t have been allowed to do what we did?
Incidentally, because we were all working stiffs we had to make the calls at 7AM. I was actually impressed how many of these guys were at their desks working at 7AM, answered their phones themselves, and knew what we were talking about.
Just to be clear, I was responding to Gatopescado. I would have had no objection to having our conversation taped and made public.
You’d better start with your state’s Constitutional Convention to repeal the 1st Amendment Right to Petition. :rolleyes:
Hey! I didn’t say it was a good idea! 
Rule 34 says there is a market for it, but I personally do NOT want to see congresscritter bodies on cam.
[sub]Mine eyes hath seen the gory…[/sub]
… of the coming of the Lords. Good thing this thread’s not about Parliament.
I would say that we think scarily alike, but I’m not allowed to insult you outside the Pit!
Lead. I am bound to follow.
I kinda like the 'net meme about requiring Congresscritters to wear the logos of their corporate sponsors, similar to racing drivers.