Posted on 08/12/2004 9:51:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO - Sacramento's most powerful Democrat is trying to quietly kill a pair of bills backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would crack down on special-interest influence in the state Capitol.
With less than three weeks left in the Legislature's two-year session, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said Wednesday that he would continue to block the measures, which would temporarily stop campaign consultants from lobbying the politicians they helped put in office.
``They're dead,'' Burton said of the bills.
After the bills won support in the Assembly and a key Senate policy committee, Burton redirected them -- against the authors' wishes -- to the Rules Committee he chairs, which has the power to bottle up the proposals indefinitely.
Wednesday, Burton, a 71-year-old San Francisco Democrat who will be forced into retirement this year by term limits, called the measures an ``insult'' to lawmakers who should have the fortitude to say no to their political consultants without a state law.
But the authors aren't giving up yet, and called on Burton to stop blocking action on their proposed laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
LOL, what a putz!!!
Now, now, Norm. Burton has bills to pay just like anyone else. His nest egg just ain't quite big enough yet.
I will NOT miss John Burton. He is a "one trick" pony. The man is very narrow is all of his thoughts and legislation. What a waste of a life.
Don't let the rumpled Hawaian shirts and gold chains around his brown, leathery neck fool you, Burton's a girlie man, through and through. ;)
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