This is something I've advocated for a long time.McAuliffe, one of three candidates for the Democratic nomination, yesterday called for a prohibition on "all gifts and trips from lobbyists" to legislators and executive-branch officials, including the governor.It's about time somebody in Virginia proposed these measures. Right now, the amount of money and free goodies from the lobbyists who swarm over Richmond is completely out of control. How does a legislator, for instance, take "gifts and trips" from their friendly Dominion Power lobbyists, then vote to impose mandatory renewable portfolio standards or to stop that company's new coal-fired power plant? Personally, I'd go even further than Terry McAuliffe and raise our lawmaker's pay while eliminating ALL goodies by lobbyists. Then, just maybe, our elected representatives in Richmond would actually represent US for a change, not just powerful corporations like Dominion Power. Yeah, what a concept! :)
The proposal follows a report Sunday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch spotlighting widespread weaknesses in the state's mandatory disclosure rules under which entertainment and gifts go unreported.
[...]
McAuliffe, a McLean resident and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also proposed a state-run "sunshine Web site" -- similar to one operated by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project -- as a clearinghouse for data on political fundraising and related legislative activity.
P.S. Although VPAP does a great job, it's simply not sufficient to deal with the scope of this problem.
