The Season of Disclosure - we hope
Well we just finished the season of good will and cheer. A new year is now upon us and it is clearly the season of disclosure. Rep. Mike Ball and State Senator Arthur Orr both of Huntsville have pre-filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that will require anyone who has a contract or a job with another government agency while serving in an elected capacity to disclose this financial relationship on the internet. This bill will provide sunshine into the background of every elected official in Alabama. I have always thought that the more people know about their government the better off we are.
This bill also goes hand in hand with legislation sponsored by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin over the last few years that would ban PAC to PAC transfers of campaign contributions. This bill has repeatedly passed the House but has not reached the Governor’s desk yet. I am sure Jeff feels like he is beating his head against a wall some times but he comes pushing this issue to the forefront of the disclosure debate in Montgomery and you have to admire him for that.
I have a bill that I have authored a few times already that will require campaigns to file their disclosure forms on the internet. This would allow citizens to research who actually is giving money to our political campaigns in Alabama. Again, the more disclosure will allow the citizens of our state to be more informed about their elected government.
It is looking like the season of disclosure, of course legislative history has not been kind to the bills bringing more sunshine to the process. Let’s hope this season will be different.
Lets hope so, as the population grows and towns fragment, its become hard to know who your elected officals are other than as a face on TV and in the papers and even easier to be mistrustful of them.
Disclosure and transparency could help with that.
Comment by walt moffett — January 4, 2008 @ 12:21 pm