Nobel Prize is unethical in Colorado
"The people" in Colorado have imposed new ethics rules on their legisrapers. And now that calmer legal heads are examining the wording of the initiative, they're finding that it bans state college professors from accepting Nobel Prize money, and children of public university employees from accepting many scholarships. One can understand the impulse behind the law; eight legisrapers are leaving office early so they'll still be able to become lobbyists. But the solution is not amateur-drafted regulation, but a total separation of economy and state, so that it's not worthwhile to lobby.
Comments
Posted by: J
Posted on: December 29, 2006 11:56 AM
all based on interpetation. the attorney's reaction that such statements were absurd and that the wording is vague, that's the point. Vague wording can be interpreted to be anything.
Posted by: Jeffrey Quick
Posted on: December 30, 2006 07:36 AM
Well, that's the point. If you're going to have "a government of laws and not of men", you need laws that are crystal-clear. Certainly it's absurd to think that a state government would block a prof from a Nobel prize. Or is it? What if a jealous colleague sued? What if a Nobel Peace prize were given to somebody whose actions were not liked by the government?