Appearance of ‘Reform’ Bill Adopted By Assembly Committee

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

In another sop to what the press corps labels the “appearance of impropriety,” the Assembly Elections Committee dropped the monetary limit on gifts from employers of lobbyists to legislators from $390 to $10.

Meanwhile these same “employers” spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legislative primaries to elect like-minded politicians. No “appearance” of impropriety there, because the recipient of this benefit is (legally) ignorant of the giver’s identity.

But you can’t outlaw “independent” expenditures. They are, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, protected expression under the First Amendment. So we must let impropriety stand while outlawing its appearance?

Elected in 1956, the late Assemblyman Bob Crown took office before we legislated ethics. On the day he was sworn in, the Wine Institute left two cases of wine in his office. Crown’s first “gifts”. It worried him.

He asked his colleagues what he should do. Some said, “Give it back if it worries you”. Others said, “Keep it, no law against it”.

Finally he asked Jesse Unruh, his friend and mentor. “What should I do Jess”, should I keep it”? Crown asked. “Never”, said Unruh. “I should give it back”? Crown inquired.

“No”, said Jesse, “you should give it to me”.

The lesson – for you journalists who reason with difficulty – is that strength of character, not laws against things that can look bad, is what is needed in political life.

The legislation limiting the value of gifts will do nothing about the absence of propriety. Its total purpose is to solicit a self-serving quote of praise from a good government lobbyist paid to say it.

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