April 7, 2005
Follow through
The problem with having 803 lobbyists working 99 Assembly reps, 33 Senators, not to mention the governor and the PSC, is that the reporters covering "politics" in the Capitol are understaffed and overwhelmed. On any given day there may be five or six reporters in the Capitol press room barely able to keep up with news releases--let alone real stories--while the money boys roam the halls pushing their agenda.
If we are lucky a good story will emerge once a week or so uncovering some nefarious plot against the public interest, but there is no ability to follow through. Take this loopy "Job Creation Act II", as exhibit A. Presented in draft form, right from the lobbyists, the public and the media cannot possibly formulate intelligent analyses of the proposal in part because it is still in draft form. Knowing that, the lobbyists and their legislators call for a public hearing the next day.
Now, it is, in my view, a per se violation of the spirit of open meetings laws to rush forward with a deliberate plan to keep the public out of the debate. What do we get from the Fourth Estate? An article here, a mention there, but no digging, no attempt to find out whose idea this was or to pin down the governor to find out why he and his DNR would support further weakening of our air quality standards under the false label of JOB CREATION. So, the lobbyists grin and head for the pay window, the legislators hold more fundraisers, and more of our kids will get asthma.
FightingBob.com will provide a generous reward for anyone who can locate a single job actually created by the Doyle/Gard Job Creation Acts I or II. This is a fraud on the public while the media focuses on Michael Jackson, Schiavo, and nonsense. Something is drastically wrong. The editors should be ashamed of themselves.
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