Posted at the Senate Site today, two hits on the UEG ethics reform ballot initiative.
While they (and the Daily Herald editorial discussed) make very interesting points regarding the idea of jurisdiction and regulative powers, they purposefully avoid discussing the equal — if not more threatening — effects of a legislative body free of accountability to the people.
I agree people should read the initiative fully before signing, and I even agree the initiative as it stands isn’t perfect. But there is no denying the public support for ethics reform, and the milquetoast and superficial reaction from the legislature in response.
It leads me back to the same question I proposed at the public hearing on the initiative here in Logan:
“If this initiative is where the public wants the reform to go — according the available polling — and if the legislative response to this public desire is inadequate… what does the legislature plan to do to achieve the same objectives that led to this initiative they now collectively oppose?”
No legislator has answered my question yet.
That’s a bit hyperbolic. We still have free elections. The problem is that we are either collectively okay with what legislators do or are too lazy to do anything about it at the polls.