Update: October 15, 2010 (see below)
Decision-makers are given too much credit. Most individuals who vote on
government matters are non-professionals who are paid little or
nothing, and who rarely focus on the matters before their body. They
are, therefore, very dependent on staff members who are professionally
trained and who are paid to focus on the matters before the body.
And yet, according to
an
article in the Indianapolis Star, the
Indiana State Ethics Commission recently decided that the general counsel, chief legal adviser, and chief
administrative law judge to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (all one person) was allowed to take a job with the regulatory division of the state's
largest electric supplier days after leaving his job with the IURC.