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I never understood why not all investments and income of politicians needs to be publicly available, and why all contact with lobbyists ought to be logged and r

I never understood why not all investments and income of politicians needs to be publicly available, and why all contact with lobbyists ought to be logged and recorded, at the very least for internal review purposes. Or how it is possible that in countries which do have this to some degree (EU for example), every time we try to look at something the archives have mysteriously been lost..

janekm 2y ago
It's almost as if politicians are less motivated to enact legislation that is inconvenient to politicians.
- Joker_vD 2y ago
  I mean, imagine having to live on a salary just like (most of) your voters do? The horror! What would even be the point of being elected then? To serve the public?
  - pessimizer 2y ago
    We've designed the system for corruption. It costs far more to get the job than the job pays. We have to expect that money to come from somewhere.
z_ 2y ago
Canada has an attempt at providing the lobbyist information: https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/guest?lang=eng https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/guest?lang=e... Here are the monthly communication reports: https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/rcntCmLgs https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/rcntCmLgs There is also a statistics section available.
- ronyba 2y ago
  Wat about immigration agents? They are the first point of contact for foreigners right?
ronyba 2y ago
The EU has some strict policies, Why only politicians why not immigration or other government agents that are not voted in?
nativeit 2y ago
This should be the case. Politicians should be tasked as fiduciaries of their constituents, with penalties for actions that do not comport with their constituents’ best interests. Their finances and daily schedules should be open to everyone, and all income/gifts above $100 should be turned over to the state, as they are vessels for citizens, and not eligible for outside compensation while in office. It’ll never happen, but it absolutely should.
bparsons 2y ago
In Canada, it is. Canadian politicians are not really allowed to have investments (outside of some prescribed mutual funds), and all bank accounts, assets, loans etc. are disclosed on a public registry. All communications between lobbyists and government officials are logged in a public registry every 30 days. Also, there are no corporate donations, and no individual is allowed to donate more than 1500 (Canadian) dollars to any politician. If you donate to them, you cant lobby them.
me_me_me 2y ago
because the people in charge of implementing it are the people that this will be used against. Of course they will never do it out of the goodness of their hearts
jl6 2y ago
It’s not easy to close down all the loopholes. Would you include spouses in this transparency drive?
- rickydroll 2y ago
  yes and and what we've seen here in the states, also children and their partners.
tmaly 2y ago
sounds like an actually decent use case for a distributed ledger.

janekm 2y ago

It's almost as if politicians are less motivated to enact legislation that is inconvenient to politicians.

Joker_vD 2y ago
I mean, imagine having to live on a salary just like (most of) your voters do? The horror! What would even be the point of being elected then? To serve the public?
- pessimizer 2y ago
  We've designed the system for corruption. It costs far more to get the job than the job pays. We have to expect that money to come from somewhere.

z_ 2y ago

Canada has an attempt at providing the lobbyist information: https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/guest?lang=eng https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/guest?lang=e... Here are the monthly communication reports: https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/rcntCmLgs https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/rcntCmLgs There is also a statistics section available.

ronyba 2y ago
Wat about immigration agents? They are the first point of contact for foreigners right?

ronyba 2y ago

The EU has some strict policies, Why only politicians why not immigration or other government agents that are not voted in?

nativeit 2y ago

This should be the case. Politicians should be tasked as fiduciaries of their constituents, with penalties for actions that do not comport with their constituents’ best interests. Their finances and daily schedules should be open to everyone, and all income/gifts above $100 should be turned over to the state, as they are vessels for citizens, and not eligible for outside compensation while in office. It’ll never happen, but it absolutely should.

bparsons 2y ago

In Canada, it is. Canadian politicians are not really allowed to have investments (outside of some prescribed mutual funds), and all bank accounts, assets, loans etc. are disclosed on a public registry. All communications between lobbyists and government officials are logged in a public registry every 30 days. Also, there are no corporate donations, and no individual is allowed to donate more than 1500 (Canadian) dollars to any politician. If you donate to them, you cant lobby them.

me_me_me 2y ago

because the people in charge of implementing it are the people that this will be used against. Of course they will never do it out of the goodness of their hearts

jl6 2y ago

It’s not easy to close down all the loopholes. Would you include spouses in this transparency drive?

rickydroll 2y ago
yes and and what we've seen here in the states, also children and their partners.

tmaly 2y ago

sounds like an actually decent use case for a distributed ledger.