EDITORIAL: Those Living in Glass Houses Shouldn’t Hire High Priced Lobbyists

EDITORIAL: Those Living in Glass Houses Shouldn’t Hire High Priced Lobbyists

 

There is no question Rhode Island needs greater ethics reform, but the Providence Journal’s claim of a moral high ground might be a little more legitimate if it were not working the back rooms of the State House with a high priced lobbyist to protect the most self serving of requirements. 

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While the Projo is opining about ethical lapses and wasteful insider spending, the newspaper has paid one of the most influential state lobbyists - Joe Walsh — nearly $100,000 to protect the most outdated and absurd of sacred cows.

The five decades old requirement forces cities, towns, and state agencies to place notices in print.  That is correct - there are still laws on the books that require certain notices to be printed on dead trees.  In an era when transparency and access should be lauded, there are requirements that force cash strapped towns to spend on a well-demonstrated declining media - instead of where people go to get their news and information. 

The League of Cities and Towns has asked for relief for years from this arcane requirement. Governor Lincoln Chafee submitted a budget removing the requirement and so did Governor Gina Raimondo, but the sanctimonious ones at the Projo undermine their own claims for reform when they themselves are feeding at the public trough.