Adam Friedman » Rules Reform

Our state law-makers: we pay them full-time, they work part-time.

Adam — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:31:51 +0000

Imagine you are interviewing a potential new hire for a demanding full-time position in your company. The interview is going great, until the candidate explains that he has a second job, and, if hired, he will continue to work at the second job. Wouldn’t his candidacy now seem far less attractive? Many Massachusetts legislators don’t [...]

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Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff tells all

Adam — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:25:12 +0000

You've got to get in the loop, and I've got the guy who will take us there. Never before have we been granted such a trove of insider stories about how so many of our Members of Congress are bought and manipulated for special interest gain. And the goods come straight from the most notorious lobbyist in recent history, Jack Abramoff.

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State Legislature Ethics Oversight Exchange

Adam — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:29:36 +0000

Brilliant good government policy proposal of the week, courtesy of Herald co-worker Todd Prussman: an interstate compact in which two different state legislatures of comparable size agree to provide all ethics and rules oversight administrative duties for each other. This way, there is a healthy amount of distance (disinterest) while one state’s office investigates cases [...]

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South Carolina passes law requiring roll-call votes

Adam — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:07:25 +0000

Before the passage of H3004: The Spending and Accountability Act of 2011, 75 percent of all legislative votes in the South Carolina General Assembly were voice votes, in which no legislators’ vote is recorded for the public record (source: South Carolina Policy Council). Thanks to a three-year battle waged by now-Governor Nikki Haley and a [...]

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Shouldn’t “reading the bill” be a job qualification?

Adam — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:00:04 +0000

The Boston Globe reveals the utter absurdity of law-making in our federal government. From “Lawmakers, read the bills before you vote”: Ramming legislation through Congress so quickly that neither lawmakers nor voters have time to read and digest it is a bipartisan crime; Republicans have been as guilty of it as Democrats. The 341-page Patriot [...]

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