North Carolina lobbyists can officially screw politicians legally! WOW! (But if sex has no value, how can prostitution be illegal?)

...................................................................................................................................................................
COMMENTS:
*  Oh gawd. As if there weren't too many politicians and lobbyists out there already. Now they are reproducing themselves as some sort of politician/lobbyist hybrids? We are truly doomed...
*  More and more it's becoming clear just HOW out of control the people who are supposed to have the highest ethics representing us have become. This new legislation is simply sickening, but not surprising -- given all the other hypocrisy coming out of North Carolina lately.
*  one state down ... and how many to make it 'official' for the rest of the country. America is screwed (literally).
...................................................................................................................................................................
Who Needs Money? Lobbyists Are Allowed to Have Sex With Politicians
By Kevin Mathews, February 22, 2015

Whoa, don’t look now, but North Carolina just legalized prostitution! Well, sort of that is, and the legalization doesn’t apply to everyday citizens. However, sexual relationships between a consenting politician and lobbyist are now officially A-Okay, reports The Daily Beast. Don’t look so surprised — the rules have never applied to the political elite.

If this rule sounds unethical to you, you’d be wrong. In fact, North Carolina’s own Ethics Commission is the body that gave its collective thumbs up to lobbyist/politician fornication. In December, the state’s lobbying compliance director formally asked the commission — hypothetically, supposedly — whether such relationships were permitted by state ethical standards. Now, two months later, the group decided that these sexual relationships are on the up-and-up, leading some to wonder whether the Ethics Commission had been “lobbied” in the interim.

The relationship between lobbyists and elected officials has always been both complicated and troubling. Private interest groups pay lobbyists to convince politicians to draft and approve legislation in their favor. While politicians are purported to represent their constituents, their pro-big business biases suggest that lobbyists have the real power.

In North Carolina, politicians and staffers must disclose all gifts from lobbyists that cost over $10. However, politicians have no obligation to acknowledge having sex with lobbyists since sex is free. “Consensual sexual relationships do not have monetary value and therefore are not reportable as gifts or ‘reportable expenditures made for lobbying’ for purposes of the lobbying law’s expenditure reporting provisions,” wrote the North Carolina Ethics Commission.

The Ethics Commission may insist that its decision is different from prostitution, yet by allowing corporations to hire people who can sway politicians with sexual acts, it’s certainly opening the door to that sort of behavior. It would certainly be easier for industries to conceal their influence by enticing government officials with off-the-books sex than having to disclose “moneyed” presents instead.

It wouldn’t be the first time something of the sort happened in North Carolina anyway. The question to the Ethics Committee may have officially been posed as a “hypothetical,” but there are multiple publicized examples of sexual affairs between politicians and lobbyists in the state. Just three years ago, two staffers for politician Thom Tillis resigned after getting caught in a sex scandal with lobbyists. For the record, U.S. Senator Tillis says he would continue to forbid these types of relationships for his staffers regardless of whether it is technically illegal.

Don’t feel bad, average American citizens. We may not hear much about these newly condoned, backdoor sexcapades, but when lobbyists can legally sleep with a congressman while simultaneously trying to convince him to lower corporate tax rates, you better believe that all of America is getting screwed in the processed [sic].
...................................................................................................................................................................