No Gift List is now bipartisan with the addition of Senator Rice

PRESS RELEASE

July 21, 2010
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

No Gift List is now bipartisan with the addition of Senator Rice

State Senator Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), Minority Leader, has authorized Oklahoma’s Common Cause to post his name as the second public official on its “No Gifts List” in Oklahoma. State Representative Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) was the first to sign.

This list, located on Oklahoma Common Cause’s website at http://www.commoncause.org/OK/NoGifts, provides a way for public officials to end constituent perceptions that they engage in an inappropriate game of quid pro quo with lobbyists for special interests. By putting their name on the list, officials and candidates pledge that they will not accept anything of value from a lobbyist or another person trying to influence their actions.

Oklahoma’s Common Cause appreciates Rep. Murphy’s stepping forward to inaugurate the list and with addition of Senator Rice, the list now has bipartisan support. The list will not list parties because the point of the list is to facilitate transparency and fairness among those who make the laws and uses the citizen’s tax dollar, not for partisan advantage.

The website is in the process of being updated with Senator Rice’s name added.

The list follows the lead of North Carolina’s legislature, which has a “No Gifts” list on its website, http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/reports/noGiftsList.pl?sChamber=House. At a recent meeting, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission had declined to host Oklahoma’s version of the no-gifts list, but instead suggested that Oklahoma’s Common Cause provide a home for the list.

Common Cause is a non-partisan group that was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, an influential Republican and cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, with a mission of making U.S. political institutions more honest, open and accountable.

If other state public officials or candidates, who are challenging them, want to put their names on the “No Gifts List,” they may contact Lynn Howell, Chair of Oklahoma’s Common Cause, at thowell@dayedwards.com at (405) 239-2121 or John Wood, board member, woody_74075@yahoo.com at (405) 372-6178. The list is also expected to be linked to the Daily Oklahoman’s Politics website.





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