ON THE RECORD
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 22:
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge: "The thing I'm most concerned about is the clock is becoming a factor here." "It doesn't leave a lot of time for us to look at these things. This is not an issue that popped on the radar on Jan. 13. It's been out there."
“They seem determined to want to have lobbyists spend money on them,” he said of the Senate. “I haven’t seen a cap that works. I don’t know if this one works.”
Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, R-Duluth, on that body's new $100 gift cap rule passed in January: "I believe our current policy is working. It is driving lobbyist spending out of the political system."
On the Senate bill's requirement that each public body draft a policy setting a limit no greater than $100 on lobbyists' gifts, or accept a complete ban. "If they don't wish to develop their own ethics policy, then they can have their ban."
William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, on the Senate revision to the House's work: "We'll keep pushing for 100 percent until the bill is passed, " he said. "For the most part, it is a pretty strong improvement."
On the House's position after the Senate's changes made Thursday: "I don't understand how they could go back home and look their neighbors in the eye — as the speaker has said — and tell them they prevented a stronger bill from happening."
Senate Rules Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, on time drawing short: "My fear now is we'll have a stalemate. But we'll have next session."
Sen. Mike Crane, R-Newnan, in the AJC March 17, floating an idea to replace both the House and Senate plans with a $20 cap on individual gifts with an $1,800 annual cap: "In the House version there is no limit. It just changes the way this (spending) manifests itself." "To me, it seems a lot more time and effort was spent trying to create loopholes. What we owe the people is something that is easy to understand and is reasonable."
Stefan Passantino, a partner in the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge and an expert on lobbying rules, in the AJC MArch 17 regarding the House bill: "This is a piece of legislation whose heart is in the right place." "The devil, as they say when you are dealing with lawyers, is in the details."
