Oklahoma legislators protect their future careers as lobbyists

Shame on the legislators who voted to kill proposed state ethics rules that would have prevented them from working as a lobbyist for two years after leaving office.

In a remarkable act of unenlightened self-interest, the House and Senate rejected all the Oklahoma Ethics Commission’s proposed rules for the year during the final days of the legislative session.

The most controversial rule was one preventing legislators and state agency heads from working as a lobbyist for two years after leaving office.

Two other rules, including one giving definition to a state prohibition of coordination between candidates and independent campaign funds, also were rejected, although those babies were barely mentioned in the Legislature’s haste to throw out the ethics bathwater.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-oklahoma-legislators-protect-their-future-careers-as/article_eb55bb95-272d-5752-bdc6-8ff68a980422.html