Linda Lopez expressed reservations about the Denish Plan

In an interview with reporter and blogger Peter St Cyr, link, Lt Gov hopeful Linda Lopez expressed reservations about the ethics reform plan that gubernatorial candidate, Lt Gov, Diane Denish has placed on the table.

The Denish Plan is not a bold plan; it doesn't even mention funding the Attorney General's Office, nor the State Auditor's Office at levels sufficient to allow them to really root out corruption and incompetence in state government, and then bring to justice, those who have betrayed our trust.

If Lopez cannot even get on board with a plan as modest as
the Denish Plan, it seems very unlikely that she will stand
behind any meaningful reform at all.

Her continued insistence that the Ethics Commission not
be given "too much" power, is particularly disturbing.

The good ol' boy limits on power for the Attorney General, the
State Auditor, and now the Ethics Commission, are drawn,
historically, at a level where the really powerful are able to
except themselves from actual, honest accountability for their
misconduct.

Lopez repeatedly points to her own cluelessness on ethics
reform, when she argues, "you can't make people ethical."
By the same logic, there should be legal code because,
you can't make people "law abiding".

It is not the intention of laws to make people "law abiding".
It is to hold them accountable when they are not.
It is not the intention of ethics reform (laws) to make people
"ethical". It is to hold them accountable when they are not.

It becomes increasingly clear that a Denish-Lopez ticket
represents more of the same old, same old;
too much talk and too little walk.




photo Mark Bralley