State leaders maybe do not comprehend “ethics”?

We’ve discussed the need for ethics reform in our state legislature. We realize it needs to be upgraded a bit.  Now we read in the Statesman that our newly appointed Lt. Governor, Brad Little, is holding a fund raiser for his race in 2010. Certainly this will attract lobbyists to rally to Mr. Little’s support (to the tune of over $6K so far). Obviously this is during a legislative session. So far nothing surprising in this news.

But here is a surprise: Mr. Little thinks it is not proper for elected officials to receive lobbyists’ contributions during a legislative session. As quoted in this article:

“[I]t’s just the best practice, when the legislative process is going on, there’s no campaign contributions.”

When questioned about this comment of his, Mr. Little now says:

“Guilty as charged,” Little said. “It may appear a little disingenuous, but I never even thought about it.”

Though not directly quoted in this article the Statesman attributes Senator Kate Kelly as saying:

Little’s contention that he “never even thought about it” is ample indication that lawmakers have grown so accustomed to the present system where lobbyists can mix influence with money that they rarely give it a second thought.

For the past few legislative sessions, Senator Kelly has introduced various ethics reform bills most of which have not even been discussed within the Senate State Affairs Committee. With this type of control preventing ethics reform bills from even getting out of committee, Lt. Governor Little’s chances of ever having to break a tie vote on one of these bills is about the same as his canceling his upcoming fund raiser.