California Assembly expunges votes on oil drilling bill
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kimo
Aug 6, 2009, 4:33:23 PM8/6/09
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Los Angeles Times on August 6, 2009:
California Assembly expunges votes on oil drilling bill
The logs made available to the public do not show which 28 members
voted for the controversial bill. One critic calls it 'a legislative
coverup.'
By Patrick McGreevy
Reporting from Sacramento -- Although 28 members of the California
Assembly supported a measure to allow new oil drilling off the Santa
Barbara coast, their votes are nowhere to be found in the official
state database.
After the measure failed, Assembly leaders expunged the vote
altogether, sparing lawmakers running for reelection an official
record of their controversial decision. The voting logs made
available to the public on the Legislature's website do not indicate
who voted for and against the bill on July 24.
It wasn't the first time the Assembly has done this. The
little-known practice of purging votes, which experts say serves
little purpose other than to allow lawmakers to hide actions from
the public, is quite common in the lower house, legislative records
show. In the last six years, 71 votes on bills in the Assembly have
been cleansed from the record.
"The message to the public is 'this vote was an inconvenient vote
and we would rather you not look at the man behind the curtain,' "
said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), who wrote the oil drilling
bill.
Read the rest of this story at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-purge6-2009aug06,0,1598055.story
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California Assembly expunges votes on oil drilling bill
The logs made available to the public do not show which 28 members
voted for the controversial bill. One critic calls it 'a legislative
coverup.'
By Patrick McGreevy
Reporting from Sacramento -- Although 28 members of the California
Assembly supported a measure to allow new oil drilling off the Santa
Barbara coast, their votes are nowhere to be found in the official
state database.
After the measure failed, Assembly leaders expunged the vote
altogether, sparing lawmakers running for reelection an official
record of their controversial decision. The voting logs made
available to the public on the Legislature's website do not indicate
who voted for and against the bill on July 24.
It wasn't the first time the Assembly has done this. The
little-known practice of purging votes, which experts say serves
little purpose other than to allow lawmakers to hide actions from
the public, is quite common in the lower house, legislative records
show. In the last six years, 71 votes on bills in the Assembly have
been cleansed from the record.
"The message to the public is 'this vote was an inconvenient vote
and we would rather you not look at the man behind the curtain,' "
said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), who wrote the oil drilling
bill.
Read the rest of this story at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-purge6-2009aug06,0,1598055.story
--------------------------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this message because
you subscribed to the e-mail list of the
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association --
California's largest taxpayer organization
with offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Visit our site at http://www.HJTA.org
FORWARD THIS MESSAGE
Please forward this message to your friends
who are California homeowners or taxpayers.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HJTA LIST
If this message was forwarded to you by
a friend, please consider subscribing at
http://www.HJTA.org/free-e-mail-updates/
JOIN HJTA
If you are not already a member
of HJTA you can join online at
http://www.HJTA.org/join-us
SUPPORT HJTA
You can contribute to HJTA
online via our secure page at
http://www.HJTA.org/donatenow
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
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