{"id":8111,"date":"2015-02-06T13:59:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T13:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=8111"},"modified":"2015-02-06T13:59:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T13:59:22","slug":"revolving-door-keeps-spinning-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=8111","title":{"rendered":"Revolving door keeps spinning in Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The late comic genius George Carlin used to poke fun at words —\u00a0for example, taking note of particularly amusing oxymorons.<\/p>\n

“Military intelligence,” “jumbo shrimp” … that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

“Government ethics”?<\/em><\/p>\n

I know, it’s a tired clich\u00e9 at times to make light of what some in government think of as ethical conduct. But here’s yet another example of why ethical reform needs government’s attention — but it’s not likely to get off the ground.<\/p>\n

Former state Rep. John Davis, a Houston Republican, has just registered as a lobbyist immediately after ending his tenure in the Texas House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blog.mysanantonio.com\/texas-politics\/2015\/02\/ex-houston-state-lawmaker-becomes-lobbyist\/<\/p>\n

Why is that so bad? Simple. He’s now able to parlay his myriad connections within state government to fatten his own wallet and help the clients on whose behalf he is lobbying.<\/p>\n

Davis is going to lobby for a Tomball-based residential contracting firm that works closely with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.<\/p>\n

Is that fair, say, for other contractors who might want to get in on the action provided by a state agency? Does former Rep. Davis have some inside knowledge that others might not be able to obtain as readily?<\/p>\n

You figure it out.<\/p>\n

Davis is doing not a single illegal thing here. He’s just taking advantage of a gigantic loophole in the state’s ethics-in-government code.<\/p>\n

It stinks.<\/p>\n

It’s also a tradition in Texas politics and government for lawmakers to move smoothly and seamlessly from legislating to lobbying. Former House Speaker Pete Laney, a Hale Center Democrat, did it when he left the House just a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Two state legislators, both Republicans — Rep. Angie Chen Button of Garland and Sen.\u00a0Van Taylor of Plano —\u00a0have proposed putting a four-year waiting period on the time former lawmakers can register as lobbyists. Davis, according to the San Antonio Express-News, opposes the legislation. Imagine that.<\/p>\n

Do you think they’ll find other opponents among their fellow legislators who might want to jump on that lobbyist gravy train once their days as public servants have ended?<\/p>\n

Government ethics? Add it to that dubious list of nonsensical terms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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The late comic genius George Carlin used to poke fun at words —\u00a0for example, taking note of particularly amusing oxymorons. “Military intelligence,” “jumbo shrimp” … that kind of thing. “Government ethics”? I know, it’s a tired clich\u00e9 at times to make light of what some in government think of as ethical conduct. But here’s yet … Continue reading Revolving door keeps spinning in Austin<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,18,1],"tags":[1635,1888,1976,2527,2808,3570,4094,4605,4642,4644,4653],"class_list":["post-8111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-news","category-state-news","category-uncategorized","tag-ethics-reform","tag-george-carlin","tag-government-ethics","tag-john-davis","tag-lobbyists","tag-pete-laney","tag-san-antonio-express-news","tag-texas-department-of-housing-and-community-affairs","tag-texas-house-of-representatives","tag-texas-house-speaker","tag-texas-legislature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}