CA Assembly hides names of supporters of oil drilling bill (Bill did not pass)

[ColbertWatcher]

From the Los Angeles Times
California Assembly expunges votes on oil drilling bill
The logs made available to the public do not show which 28 members voted for the controversial bill. One critic calls it 'a legislative coverup.'
By Patrick McGreevy
August 6, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento — Although 28 members of the California Assembly supported a measure to allow new oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, their votes are nowhere to be found in the official state database.

After the measure failed, Assembly leaders expunged the vote altogether, sparing lawmakers running for reelection an official record of their controversial decision. The voting logs made available to the public on the Legislature's website do not indicate who voted for and against the bill on July 24.

It wasn't the first time the Assembly has done this. The little-known practice of purging votes, which experts say serves little purpose other than to allow lawmakers to hide actions from the public, is quite common in the lower house, legislative records show. In the last six years, 71 votes on bills in the Assembly have been cleansed from the record.

"The message to the public is 'this vote was an inconvenient vote and we would rather you not look at the man behind the curtain,' " said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), who wrote the oil drilling bill.

(more at the link)

--Los Angeles Times

[zonkers]

1. Disgusting scumbags. Punt the lot of them.

[KansDem]

2. Make their salaries just as invisible as their votes!

:grr:

[Tikki]

3. Couldn't I just ask an Assembly member how they voted?...

Would they be required to answer?

Tikki

[EFerrari]

4. Maybe Tom will get the list out somehow. Hope so. n/t

[Georgia farmer]

5. Links

This was further down the article from the LAT.

"The bill was defeated in the Assembly, with 48 members,
almost all the Democrats, voting against it. A printout of the
vote was available to those in the chamber until a motion to
expunge the vote was advanced by Democratic floor leader
Alberto Torrico of Newark. He declined to comment.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Thank you for posting this. n/t

[jody]

6. As goes CA, so goes the U.S. n/t