Governors Association yearly meeting: an undemocratic orgy that must end

If ever there were a time or an event to reignite the “99 versus 1 percent” rhetoric in the U.S., the upcoming Governors Association’s[1] yearly summer meeting in Williamsburg should be the precipitating event. 

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, governors from across the country will be entertained with historic sites, five-star restaurants, amusement parks, high-class golf courses, and as a concluding event, “rousing” fireworks.[2]

Governors just wanna have fun, right, so what’s the big deal? Aside from public officials taking part in this 4 day escape of fun and games, those who will be paying for these amusements include each of the governor’s respective taxpayers and/or just as concerning, corporate sponsors. 

This taxpayer and corporate sponsored vacation takes an even worse turn, however. Most of the public and the press will not be allowed to view or take part in this orgy of lobbying extravagance as lobbyists use their money to buy access to our country’s governors, a price that many corporations are more than willing to pay.[3]  

And not surprisingly, the host of this undemocratic event will be none other than Gov. Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s own chief executive. According to McDonnell spokeswoman Taylor Thornley, this bacchanal will not cost Virginia taxpayers.[4] But this isn’t the only issue that Virginians and promoters of democracy across the country have with this gathering of chief executives.

As mentioned above, this meeting of governors is fundamentally undemocratic, as it shuts out the people and press and allows in a handful of big corporate lobbyists whose influence on policy agendas and decisions can only diminish that of the average Joe American.

The governors attending this event will claim, of course, that they see no discrepancy between their participation in the annual meeting and democratic values. They will probably claim that they are doing what is best for the people by granting big corporate lobbyists access to their person…

Of course, these get-togethers are not about the people and since the wise decision handed down in Citizens United,[5] representation of “the people” has appeared to become an even more abstract idea.

Virginians and Americans should no longer tolerate these “meetings” if the public and the media are not allowed to play a more active participatory role in them. Public policy is shaped in no small way by the individuals and groups who have access to our elected officials. Thus, without the kind of access that big corporate lobbyists have to our country’s elected officials, it can safely be assumed that public policy will be shaped in the interests of big corporations, not the people of America.

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[1] http://www.nga.org/cms/home.html

[2] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/08/governors-bash-va-mostly-closed-public-ar-2042862/

[3] http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/big-corporations-and-big-government-go-hand-in-han

[4] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/08/governors-bash-va-mostly-closed-public-ar-2042862/

[5] http://www.citizensunited.org/