Pay To Play Politics
Pay To Play Politics
April 4, 2006
Senator Dina Titus' gubernatorial campaign officially launched "Pay to Play with Jim" today, a website that connects the dots between city council votes made by Mayor Jim Gibson and campaign contributions that followed those votes.
The new website, Pay to Play with Jim, looks at 15 votes Gibson cast over a four-month period where a campaign contributor received a zone change, permit approval or political appointment and a contribution was made either shortly before or shortly after Gibson's vote.
"Our website takes you from his vote on the council to the check in the bank," Titus said. "This is nothing more than pay to play' politics and it is wrong. It's not illegal, but it should be."
The most prevalent example of "pay to play" documented on the new website, which is linked to www.dinatitus.com, is the money developer Anthony Marnell gave Gibson and the votes Gibson made that gave back to Marnell. The website shows in November 2005, Gibson approved a zoning change for Marnell. In December 2005, Gibson received $150,000 from various Marnell-related companies. In January 2006, Gibson voted to appoint Marnell to the Henderson Convention Center Board.
Titus' ethics plan calls for an end to "pay to play" politics by prohibiting contributions from an individual or corporate entity to city council members or county commissioners while a land use, licensing or permit application is pending and for one year after final action is taken on the application. This is comparable to the prohibition against state legislators taking contributions 30 days before, during and 30 days after the session - a bill pushed by Titus in 1995. Titus also wants to prohibit elected officials and public employees from accepting gifts, regardless of value.
"This is an issue that has tarred politicians at the federal level and local level," Titus said. "My opponent apparently thinks there's nothing wrong with it. By putting this website up, people can connect the dots in this game of pay to play' and see how wrong it is."
http://www.dinatitus.com/index.php?section=news&id=552