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Mon: Odds and Ends
posted at 2009-02-16 20:59 | Last modified 2009-02-16 20:59
The big news of the day was that Governor Bev Perdue’s son Garrett has taken a job as a lobbyist with Womble Carlyle. FTR, he’ll be lobbying in DC, not Raleigh – but judging from the comments at Dome, you’d have thought he’d signed on as Satan’s spokesperson.
Perdue isn’t the only Council of State member whose child works as a lobbyist. Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton’s daughter, Elizabeth, has been a registered NC lobbyist for eight years. Her current clients are the NC Retail Merchants Association (since 2005) and the Entertainment Software Association.
Some reform advocates argue immediate family members of sitting officials shouldn’t be allowed to lobby because of their access to and influence over those officials, and because other parties they lobby might think the lobbyist speaks for his/her officeholding family member.
But others say it’s a tempest in a teapot. Lobbying is a natural draw for smart kids who’ve been raised in the world of politics, but don’t want to run for office (yet). And a lot of lobbyists have political connections that could work to their advantage. State officials themselves are allowed to lobby once they’ve left office. Is it really a bigger problem when their relatives beat them to it?
Srsly?
Next time you get cranky about your state legislators blowing taxpayer dollars on frivolous bills, remember: it could be worse. Three Tennessee statehouse Republicans have signed onto a lawsuit to “force” President Barack Obama to “produce his birth certificate.” (In case you missed it, Obama already did.) For more tinfoil-hat fun, check the comments. (Paging Joseph de Maistre...)
Sorry, Raleigh...
Hometown hero Andrew Johnson was ranked the second worst US president in a historians’ survey released today by CSPAN. The Raleigh native's main claim to fame is that he was the first US president to be impeached (Clinton was the second). Two other Tar Heel presidents fared much better: Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson came in 12th best, and Chapel Hill alum James Polk was ranked thirteenth. TBJ has more on the survey.
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