Paying attention is a two way street

Lost in today’s news is an important hearing. 1:00.....A Temporary House Committee on Ethics holds a public hearing on Gov. Deval Patrick’s ethics and lobbying reform bill......Room A-1

One of our jobs at ONE Massachusetts is to provide our network members with the information they need to “pay attention” to how our government works and how we pay for it. It’s called informed civic engagement. Yawu Miller will will be testifying today for ONE Mass in support of increased transparency in the budget making process and increased transparency in the registration and reporting requirements for lobbyists.

Why? Because paying attention is a two way street and transparency is the stop light.

Andrea Estes and Matt Viser’s story in today’s Globe speculates that DiMasi’s “relationships contributed to his undoing”.  And they are correct.

There is no excusing the Speaker from not paying attention when his long time friends and supporters offered to pick up some of his personal expenses or offered him gifts, even if it was “perfectly legal”.  He just didn’t think how it would look on the front page of the paper, and how even these perfectly legal activities would further erode the public’s confidence in government.

There is no excusing his long time personal friends for exploiting their friendship with him for their own personal gain as ‘strategists” advising special interests trying to influence public policy.  I doubt they thought for a second how they were betraying the trust of their long time, now very powerful friend.

It is tragic, in my view, that the Speakers long record of legislative achievements are damaged by ethical “questions” that triggered multiple investigations and may have prompted his resignation.”

Hence my advice to ambitious political leaders in the same Globe article "I would hope and pray that every member of the Legislature who wants to grow up to be a leader pays attention," said Judy Meredith, a longtime human services lobbyist. "They should pay attention to their relationships when they take a loan or golf fees."

We need the lobbying reforms so we have the information to pay attention. And then we have to find the time and the information we need to start paying attention.