Lobbying
Should foreign lobbyists be allowed to raise money for American elections?
We agree with the 2016 Democratic Party Platform:
"We believe that personnel is policy. We will nominate and appoint regulators and officials who are not beholden to the industries they regulate--people with a track record of standing up to power and safeguarding the public trust. We will crack down on the revolving door between the private sector--particularly Wall Street--and the federal government. We will ban golden parachutes for those taking government jobs. We will limit conflicts of interest by requiring bank and corporate regulators to recuse themselves from official work on particular matters that would directly benefit their former employers. And we will bar financial service regulators from lobbying their former colleagues for at least two years."
We agree with the Pirate Party Platform:
"In order for citizens to control their democratic destiny, we need to know what our government is doing and which special interests are influencing our public elected officials. Increasingly government officials ignore open meeting laws, make deals favorable to corporations behind closed doors and sell off your public information to private interests. Some state laws prevent people from recording public officials in their duties, such as a police officer making an arrest, but the police cameras can record your actions without your permission. [We] will make sure that our government is transparent and accountable to the people."
There should be a 5-year ban preventing government officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government.
Foreign lobbyists should NOT be allowed to raise money for American elections.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/lobbyist-regulation.aspx
http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/lobbyist-regulation.aspx
