Thursday, July 24, 2008

Custer in the News

Frank Custer, Democratic candidate for the 61st state house district, is in the news for his call for legislative reforms. From "Custer seeking statehouse reforms," by Margaret Gibbons," The Reporter 7/22/08:

Another reform measure would require full transparency of all caucus accounts, including leadership accounts. It is from these accounts that the bonus money came, according to investigators.

Other reforms supported by Custer and 15 other Democratic state House challengers include:

t Eliminating the "perk lifestyle" of state lawmakers by reducing their monthly expense allowances, eliminating state-funded vehicle insurance and reimbursement for rental cars and cutting the travel allowance in half.

t Removing the influence of special-interest lobbyists by requiring all employees of businesses who receive no-bid state contracts to report all political contributions they made in the preceding year, issuing a no-exception ban on all gifts, trips and the like from lobbyists and requiring all professional lobbyists to register with a public data base and report all expenses online.

t Providing more transparent campaign finance information by the posting of office expense reports and budgets online, requiring lawmakers to declare whether any immediate family member is associated with a gambling entity or publicly funded charity and requiring that the transfer of money between political committees be reported within 24 hours

(h/t Writemarsh)

1 comment:

AboveAvgJane said...

Someone left a comment to this post alleging that one of the candidates who attended was acting improperly by doing so. No supporting documentation of citations were provided. Before comment moderation was turned on the comment would have automatically appeared and I could have left a comment of my own asking for clarification, etc.

Since comment moderation is, for now, on, posting the comment makes me a little uncomfortable as doing so gives it, to some degree, my approval. Comments are legally protected but I don't have the time, money, or energy to hire a lawyer to deal with an official complaint, if one were to occur.

HOWEVER, if the person who left that comment wants to reword it as a question or pose it as an opinion instead of a statement of fact, I will post the comment.

Sorry to be so cautious but people are getting "cease and desist" letters and other legal communications for the oddest things these days.