{"id":13681,"date":"2013-12-05T04:14:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T04:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/"},"modified":"2013-12-05T04:14:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T04:14:00","slug":"le-projet-de-loi-sur-la-mauvaise-perruque-du-president-ralston","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Le projet de loi sur la mauvaise perruque du pr\u00e9sident Ralston"},"template":"","class_list":["post-13681","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"\"More of a sun visor than a cap,\" is how Georgia House Speaker David Ralston described the Senate';s Rule limiting gifts from lobbyists to $100. He is so critical because of the exceptions the rule allows. He pledged to write … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","featured_image":null,"article_type":1103,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":13682}"],"related_issues":false,"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

\"More of a sun visor than a cap,\" is how Georgia House Speaker David Ralston described the Senate's Rule limiting gifts from lobbyists to $100. He is so critical because of the exceptions the rule allows. He pledged to write something stronger; to enact \"real change.\"<\/p>

Eh bien, hier, nous avons assist\u00e9 au deuxi\u00e8me tour de la sous-commission de la Chambre sur l'\u00e9thique, qui a vot\u00e9 sur substitute language for Ralston';s ethics bill<\/a> apr\u00e8s que le toll\u00e9 public suscit\u00e9 par certaines de ses faiblesses les a oblig\u00e9s \u00e0 abandonner le projet.<\/p>

<\/div>

They still have not produced what the Speaker said he would introduce months ago – \"a complete ban\". If we stick to head gear, and the Speaker thinks the Senate cap is a visor, then I have to declare his ban a toupee – it's a fake ban because of the exceptions it allows. It is no where near a \"complete ban\" of gifts from lobbyists to legislators.<\/span><\/p>

Don't get me wrong, there are some things to applaud in the bill. For example, the ethics commission's rule-making ability would be restored, disclosure would be improved around campaign money raised just before the start of a legislative session, and lobbyist les frais d'inscription seraient abaiss\u00e9s de $300 \u00e0 $25<\/a>.<\/p>

But overall, the bill -- HB 142 (the original is here - http:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/Legislation\/20132014\/128952.pdf<\/a> - the updated language is yet to be posted) -- still continues the 1St<\/sup> Amendment tax on citizens who want to speak to members of the legislature beyond their directly elected members (they do allow you to do so 5 times a year, but on the 6th day, you must register!). Sure, they lowered their proposed tax, but it is still a tax on free speech. And, I don't think that will be the most chilling effect on citizen participation. How's this? If you are paid nothing, spend nothing on gifts to legislators, but want to go to the Capitol more than 5 days a year and are forced to register, you could receive multiple fines as high as $10,000 per violation. Who wouldn't that scare?<\/p>

<\/div>

De plus, aucune distinction n\u2019est faite entre un lobbyiste d\u2019entreprise puissant et bien r\u00e9mun\u00e9r\u00e9 et un b\u00e9n\u00e9vole de quartier non r\u00e9mun\u00e9r\u00e9 ou un citoyen ordinaire et concern\u00e9 qui souhaite d\u00e9fendre une cause plus de cinq fois par an.<\/p>

<\/div>

Most importantly, the bill would still allow abuses like the Speaker's lobbyist-funded $17,000 trip to Europe three years ago. Here's the section that excuses such behavior:<\/p>

<\/div>

\"Reimbursement or payment of actual and reasonable expenses provided to a public officer for such public officer's individual transportation, travel, lodging, registration, food, and beverages for attending meetings that directly relate to the official duties of that public officer or the office of that public officer.\"<\/p>

<\/div>

The term \"official duties\" is not defined, so this means all members are able to create their own definition of what's official, and what's not. The law as proposed would allow exceptions to the ban on gifts for lobbyists offering their wares to invit\u00e9<\/em> members of subcommittees \"_ which means only a few members are needed to lift the ban and allow extravagant dinners, attendance in high-priced suites at sporting events and concerts, and all the things we don't want to see allowed by a cap or ban bill.<\/p>"}}]},"yoast_head":"\nSpeaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill - Common Cause<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/le-projet-de-loi-sur-la-mauvaise-perruque-du-president-ralston\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/le-projet-de-loi-sur-la-mauvaise-perruque-du-president-ralston\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CommonCause\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/CC-Share-Graphic-Main9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CommonCause\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/\",\"name\":\"Speaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill - Common Cause\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-05T04:14:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Speaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Common Cause\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Common-Cause-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Common-Cause-Logo.png\",\"width\":2066,\"height\":331,\"caption\":\"Common Cause\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CommonCause\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CommonCause\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ourcommoncause\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Le projet de loi sur les perruques du pr\u00e9sident Ralston - Common Cause","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/le-projet-de-loi-sur-la-mauvaise-perruque-du-president-ralston\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Speaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/le-projet-de-loi-sur-la-mauvaise-perruque-du-president-ralston\/","og_site_name":"Common Cause","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CommonCause","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/CC-Share-Graphic-Main9.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CommonCause","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/","name":"Le projet de loi sur les perruques du pr\u00e9sident Ralston - Common Cause","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-05T04:14:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/speaker-ralstons-bad-toupee-bill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Speaker Ralston’s Bad Toupee Bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/","name":"Cause commune","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#organization","name":"Cause commune","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Common-Cause-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Common-Cause-Logo.png","width":2066,"height":331,"caption":"Common Cause"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CommonCause","https:\/\/x.com\/CommonCause","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ourcommoncause\/"]}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Common Cause","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/13681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/13681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}