Senate hearings can be soooooo TEDIOUS,,

[SoCalDem]

I am watching the harings about lobbying (from yesterday)..

WHAT is so freaking difficult about it.

Just OUTLAW ALL donations of ANY kind from lobbyists.. It's all so simple..

No lunches
No dinners
No trips
No coffee mugs
No hats
No jackets
No ties
NO MONEY

None of the above to ANYONE...even staff members

No unsolicited written/spoken/video information without disclosure..AND then a request for opposing views being submitted..

It's SIMPLE..

We "hire" these people based on what they TELL us THEIR views are.. We do NOT hire them to go to DC on our dime, and then play footsie with people who want what we DON'T..

If they are so unsure of their views or what we want them to do, they can fly back to their districts/states and hold some OPEN
town hall meetings/conferences and find out what WE want them to do..

It is agonizing watching these people try to twist minute details into wording that would basically change NOTHING..

They are just trying to giftwrap a box of shit..

[laheina]

1. We have a system like that in California.

The sneaky bastards just find ways around it.

And the Boobengrabber just ignores the rules altogether--and claims that there is no conflict of interest.

My opinion is that we need to be even more hard nosed. No tv commercials during campaigns. Maybe, we should just have publicly funded campaigns? I'm not really well versed in that topic, but anyone can see that this system obviously doesn't work.

[rpannier]

2. No Coffee Mugs?????

OMG...they'll be living a spartan lifestyle then. How will they ever afford the basic necessities on their meager 6 figure salary. I mean if Rickey Henderson couldn't live on 4 million dollars a year 15 years ago and Terrell Owens can't feed his family on 7 million how do you expect these people to survive without free coffee mugs?