It has been said many times over that the politicians are making good and bad laws to protect society and their constituents. The truth revealed, it is not the politicians who make policy but rather, it is the lobbyists who vessel and form our every day lives, influences and ideologies. Lobbyists, funded by other people, organizations or large corporations that you may never be aware of unless you understand the genesis of a particular project or direction not often revealed in public. S o as you can gather by knowing that these politicians that we elect to public office are not directly responsible for your city’s, state or nation’s economic conditions or strategies and the promulgation of laws and rules of society that are designed to protect you and offer you an input of the quality of life within your own political districts.
Lobbying impacts the way as most people thinks it does. It is a person or a group of persons who are trying to influence, direct or sway political decisions through different forms of advocacy provided to policy makers on behalf of other persons, organizations, or political groups. Lobbying is regulated by the US Congress and various states thus giving it a structure or legal definition as applied. However, these regulations only cover paid lobbyist and not those who lend their time and expertise to serve a particular cause. This is the area where ethical grounds may mix or be contaminated as there are large proportions of unpaid lobbyist that work full time to influence policies on religion, labor, manufacturing, trading etc. In lobbying, the key word is ethics and conflict of interest concerns.
Through customs and traditions, the government and its entities has already accepted the fact that lobbying is a legal and ethical aspect of policy making. This results in a controversy between informed decision making processes and uninformed decision making conflicts. It also divides the process into different behaviors that are driven by the need to undermine fairness and transparency of the process that does not contribute to the common good of others. This element of the process needs to be applied to the open business laws and other ethical guidelines to protect the public’s welfare and safety.
The public meeting laws exist for two main concepts which are to ensure all meetings of any public body shall be public meetings and all persons so desiring shall be permitted to attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings.” A.R.S. § 38- 431.01(A) It is the public policy of this state [Arizona] that meetings of public bodies be conducted openly and that notices and agendas be provided for such meetings which contain such information as is reasonable necessary to inform the public of the matters to be discussed.” So why do we have these laws you ask? The answers are simple and easy to essay as the law itself states these laws “protect the public / avoid decision-making in secret / promote accountability by encouraging public officials to act responsively and responsibly / protect public officials / to avoid being excluded (notice) / to prepare and avoid being blind sided (agenda) / to accurately memorialize what happened (minutes) / maintain Integrity of government / better informed citizenry / build trust between government and citizenry.
Lobbyist hate transparency and are reluctant to reveal everything they have done and everything they are asking thus going back to the open meeting laws circumventing procedures already in place to protect the public. At a state and local level, this can be translated into a simple access to the lawmaker’s “appointment books” which will reveal their meetings and identify those specific clients or visitors by the lobby related business. Today, all the politicians feel the current open meeting laws are sufficient and have no desire to change the way business is being conducted.
Recognizing the legal and illegal aspects of rewarding or giving gifts to lawmakers the public has an expressed interest in how policy is made and how laws are developed and eventually passed by the legislature. Knowing fully the impact of such violations, there are other subtle acts that substitute the actions of open violations to provide such gifts as there is no spirit of fairness when it comes to this process. If there was a sense of fairness in existence, the fact that lobbyist pay for travel, expensive meals and tickets to games or concerts would be covered by the law. Another element of fairness other than direct influences or gifts is the fact that lawmakers are not easily accessible for any long duration or time making it difficult to bring your issues to their attention. Fairness should include the frequency lobbyist are given access to the various lawmakers and their revolving door policy to greet everyone and anyone controlling their corridor to power as well as a control mechanism to control access to their office from their personal friends.
Summarizing their role it is clear that these lobbyists do not act in the interest of many but rather defeat the common good with their own specific goals. They don’t play fair and they want to get their points of view to the lawmaker’s desk as effective as possible to gain favor in their direction, proposals or desires. They are advocates and they represent certain industries, groups or organizations. It is logical to say that the more powerful the lobby group is, the more attention they get from the lawmakers.
Sources:
http://www.azleg.gov/ombudsman/Open%20Meeting%20Law%20101.pdf
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/government_ethics/introduction/lobbying.html
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT -SHORT STORIES - NEWS AND OPINIONS - JUST PLAIN OLD STRAIGHT TALK ~~
Wasted Honor -
Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.
Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -
Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.
His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.
Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.
He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.
I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -
Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.
His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.
Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.
He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.
I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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