Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Lamar Republican: I have no problem with legislators becoming lobbyists

Sen Ed Emery, R-Lamar, says he has no problem whatsoever with legislators going directly into lobbying immediately after they leave office.

Emery was the only member of the Missouri Senate to vote against the bill that goes into effect Sunday which requires legislators to wait six months after their term ends before they can become lobbyists.

“We’re basically telling someone they can’t take a job when they leave office,” Emery said. “I do support the idea that you cannot leave the legislature during the time of your term. We have an obligation to our constituents to serve them and I don’t believe you can quit the legislature and go to work until you have completely filled out your term. It’s improper to take and start a (lobbying) job if you are offered it while you are still a legislator.”
Emery said he understands the perception that legislators are being processed through the legislature to become lobbyists. However, he said he has no objection to a lawmaker taking a lobbying job after fulfilling the elected term.
“It’s hard to say no when you’re being offered a good-paying job and deciding what’s best for your family,” Emery said. “But I think if someone offers a legislator a job, that legislator has committed to serving their two years or four years and they have to serve out their entire time. The person offering the job has to acknowledge that they can’t work until they have fulfilled their obligation. It’s almost a contractual agreement with our constituents. But what someone does after they leave office is not my business anymore.”
Emery was the only member of the Missouri Senate to vote against the bill that goes into effect Sunday which requires legislators to wait six months after their term ends before they can become lobbyists.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, a six month wait is certainly going to discourage these guys. Why not two years which might actually work?

Anonymous said...

Don't get in the way of the gravy train!

Lots of old friends are already on board.

Never know when it will be your turn to get on.

Anonymous said...

Look at the Blunt family, all of them on the gravy train. Roy doesn't really want to win, he is just looking forward to all the money he is going to make, not that he hasn't already stolen enough from us already.

Anonymous said...

If Roy didn't want to win, he wouldn't be barnstorming our corner of the southwest corner of the state. I mean, how many extra votes does he think he's going to pick up by having a dog and pony show for 50 people with the top two NRA officials? (Seriously, dragging Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox out here is a really big deal from their end, he had to cash in more than a few favors to arrange that, I'm frankly still amazed by it.)

That, and his recent visit to Webb City, tells me he's genuinely afraid of losing this election. And he's trying too hard, as witnessed by a NRA-PFV (their PAC) 4 color postcard they sent out after the above mentioned visit ... which reminds us how the Republican Congress has done nothing positive for us for years, they've just played defense, which while important, is the absolute bare minimum, and not something to be at all proud of.

It shows how little they really care about the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA). It and the visit also didn't mention Obama's putting most of the nation's gunsmiths out of business (and making it dangerous for us to work on our own or our friend's weapons), which is the first significant strike Obama has managed to make, and it's a really big one if not stopped.

Given how much the GOP establishment (GOPe) is otherwise our sworn enemy, I'm seriously thinking, gaming out the possible outcomes (such as the risk of Hillary getting elected along with a Democratic Congress, and their ending the filibuster), of voting for his Democratic opponent, for the path to victory for those of us on the (alt-)right is through sending Roy and enough of the rest of the GOPe back to spend more time with their families.