Gift ideas: Full disclosure is most important

The Oklahoman Editorial

Published: November 13, 2008

Members of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission meet Friday in Ponca City to gather the public’s input about lobbyists’ gift-giving to legislators and public officials. Our guess is they’ll hear calls for the practice to be halted or severely curtailed, as folks recoil at the idea of legislators being treated to dinners and such by men and women representing special interests.

Our hope is that the commission will allow its recently enacted rules to take hold and see what happens.

The Jack Abramoff scandal in Washington provided a tutorial on what can happen — to lobbyists and public officials — when favors start getting swapped back and forth. In Oklahoma, ethics commissioners aren’t alone in their concern over lobbyists spending more than $208,000 on legislators during 2007. That’s a lot of expensive meals, concerts and sporting events.

Lobbyists say these things allow them to get better acquainted with lawmakers away from the Capitol. Most legislators say dinners and concerts don’t sway their opinions on issues important to the lobbyists. The public says hooey, how can those things not influence those decisions?

The Ethics Commission is mulling whether to prohibit lobbyists from giving any "things of value” to public officials. Earlier this year, the commission passed a rule limiting lobbyist spending on such officials to $100 per year. It requires them to disclose gifts after spending $10 or more on an official or aide during each six-month period. Those are significant.

But most important is full and timely disclosure of all such expenses. With transparency, voters can draw their own conclusions.

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