If lobbyist feeds don’t influence legislators why do they put them on? And why do legislators attend?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pqyax6gwzQ[/youtube]
Best hypocritical, bullshit quote of the day comes from a SD Republican lawmaker (Imagine that?):
But, Gray and other lawmakers don’t think the free food has much of an influence.
“I would tell you first and foremost all the legislators swear an oath that they will not accept anything of value for a vote. I don’t know that anybody up here is beholden to any lobbyist or any interest group. Frankly, if they were I think by now we wouldn’t have passed a smoking ban, we wouldn’t have changed our liquor laws, we probably would have given cities the opportunity to tax further,” Gray said.
So legislators are smart enough to not be influenced by a rib meal but voters are not smart enough to be influenced by a bowl of chili? Typical of a SD Lawmaker, ‘I am smarter than the average bear‘ mantra. Give me a break. It is pretty clear our state legislature are the bitches of corporate interests. If they were not, we would have a better education system, a fair tax system and higher wages. But guess what – we don’t.