Fwd: [Vision2020] public disclosure

[Tom Trail]

>
>
>  Visionaries:
>
>  This past legislative session the Idaho Statesman revealed that Quest had
>  made contributions to a number of legislators in December.  Then one month
>  later the Governor came out in support of the Quest bill to take it out
>  of the oversite of the PUC in terms of land line phones.  The Statesman
>  summarized the whole affair with the statement, "It appears that Idaho
>  legislators can be bought."  Fortunately, the bill was killed by one vote
>  in the Senate, but it will be back again.
>
>  Frankly, the only information that political candidates have to disclose
>  is under the Sunshine Laws are political donations.
>
>  In 1998 I had legislation drafted based on Washington State legislation
>  which would have required extensive reporting by all political candidates
>  in Idaho.  I received little support primarily because of the complex
>  disclosure system that would have been required.
>
>  Since February I have been in contact with Jennifer Puckett and Leah Rush
>  of the Center for Political Integrity.  The Center has developed a
>  a simplified candidate financial disclosure form which I sent in the
>  the Center.  The Center has shared legislation in place
>  in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and other states.  I am most impressed with
>  legislation in N.J., and I've been in contact with Paul Sangelo (D)
>  who has been a leader in New Jersey Assembly in pushing the financial
>  disclosure for political candidates through the Assembly.
>
>  New Jersey has developed a new 25 Point Ethics Plan for candidates and
>  increasing disclosure requirements.  I've already requested legislative
>  services in Boise to draft both an Ethics Plan and Candidate Financial
>  Disclosure Form  Once this is done, I'll circulate it for comments.
>
>  Rep. Tom Trail
>
>>Visionaries,
>>
>>The Center for Public Integrity has just issued a report analyzing 
>>what personal financial information state legislators are required 
>>to report and any conflicts (such as sitting on committees that 
>>regulate a legislator's business) that may exist. States were 
>>ranked on several criteria.
>>
>>Idaho (along with Michigan and Vermont) ranked at the bottom as 
>>Idaho does not require ANY personal disclosure.
>>
>>http://www.publicintegrity.org/oi/report.aspx?aid=377&sid=300
>>
>>When I ran for county commissioner in 1990, Idaho did not require 
>>campaign contribution/expense reporting for county offices. I chose 
>>to voluntarily disclose all my campaign financial information and 
>>made it available to the public and press. I was the only county 
>>commissioner candidate in the state to do so, my opponent refusing 
>>saying it wasn't required by law. The next year, the Legislature 
>>closed this loophole and passed amendments to the campaign sunshine 
>>laws extending requirements to county office.
>>
>>Within the week, I will voluntarily post to Vision2020 my personal 
>>financial statement as would be required if I was a candidate in 
>>Washington State, the state ranked highest in the Center for Public 
>>Integrity study.
>>
>>Mark Solomon
>>
>>_____________________________________________________
>>List services made available by First Step Internet, serving the 
>>communities of the Palouse since 1994.  
>>               http://www.fsr.net                      
>>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>ØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØ

-- 
Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail at moscow.com