CONVENIENT JOB

"too bizarre"

Any time someone gets power and money, there is the danger of corruption. Every government around the world sees this, and even the state of Oregon suffers from corruption. This time around it was a state legislator, who took a job after leaving office. Thom Jensen at KATU news has the story:

Common Sense for Oregon’s Executive Director Ross Day said Carter violated the state’s Constitution by using her votes on the Senate Ways and Means Committee when she voted for HB 2009.

“This certainly is unconstitutional,” Day said. “What it (Constitution) says is that no legislator can fill an office of profit - which that is what this is - that was created during the term that the legislator served.” Day also added, “We will be filing a lawsuit later this week.”

The bill split the Department of Human Services and Day said it helped create Carter’s new position as a DHS deputy director, raising her annual pay from just over $21,000 to almost $122,000.

“You’ve got a legislator who not only did this, who lobbied for a hundred-thousand dollar a year increase, but then she turned around and was a key vote in raising taxes. I mean to me that just smells bad,” Day said.

Ms Carter was unavailable for interview, claiming illness, but the DHS director scoffed at the charges. Yet the Oregon constitution does plainly prohibit a legislator from taking a job that she created or enhanced. Particularly by more than five times.

Oh, missing from the entire story? The fact that Ms Carter is a Democrat. Minor detail, that. The Oregonian doesn't care about this tale, they're more concerned about how diverse the legislature is (as defined by how people look, its definitely not diverse in terms of political ideology).

One is reminded of the job which a hospital which wanted something from state legislator Obama, who gave his wife a six-figure job when they got what they wanted, then ended the job once she left.