In this country, we have protection from ex post facto laws – laws that make an action a crime after the action has been done. So the bill Austin Scott introduced yesterday, HB 1166, wouldn’t apply to the thousands of dollars John Oxendine has already raked in from insurance companies – but it would apply to any future contributions to Ox, so long as he is the Commissioner of Insurance.
The bill would also make State Senators Ralph Hudgens (the Chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee who is running for Commissioner of Insurance) and Seth Harp (who is also running for Commissioner of Insurance) felons, and possibly a few others in their race.
This bill is a complete political stunt by Scott to make a point both in his campaign for Governor as well as the allegations flying in the Insurance Commissioner’s race, and because Hudgens in particular would be caught up in it, it has absolutely no chance of becoming law in its current form. IF it actually manages to become law, it will be heavily modified and a shell of its current version.
On the subject of the bill itself, I don’t think it goes far enough – it should apply to EVERY elected office. It should be a crime – specifically, a felony – to accept money from a business your office regulates. It just doesn’t pass the smell test and leaves the appearance of impropriety, even when rational thought knows that there was absolutely no impropriety there. I know many in the Libertarian Party will disagree with me, but I honestly do not buy the whole “money as speech” argument that the US Supreme Court recently allowed – not from corporations or individuals operating on the behalf of corporations anyway.
Of course, there would be an easy way around even what I would like from this bill: remove government regulations (and, possibly, entire departments from government). If there are no regulations, there are no regulated businesses, and if there are no regulated businesses, no elected official could face felony charges for accepting bribes from regulated entities…
Well, it’s about time someone tried to do this. Oxendine has become the poster child of what not to do in government. Good job, Representative Scott, good job!
I completely agree with this bill. As a Libertarian, I believe that the regulation should be kept to a minimum. But if we must have someone regulating a particular industry, they should not be able to accept donations (read: bribes) from the people they regulate.
I like this idea – with one law passed, Rep. Scott will eliminate a lot of his opposition for governor!