Subject: Anatomy of a (Potential) Legislative Con Game Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 07:40:46 -0600 From: Jay Reifert Organization: Excel-Exclusive Buyer Agency ---------------------------------------------------------------------- List Removal Instructions: Reply to this Message With "Remove" in the Subject Line or Body of the Message. Governmental Officials and Their Respective Staffs Will Not Be Removed From This List. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Readers, In a free and open society, one governed by laws that are supposed to be created in the clear light of day--giving an opportunity for public scrutiny, comment and, yes...opposition--there is still the possibility for the abuse of process. It has come to REAL-Reform's attention that just such an abuse of process may be in the works, with regards to the Wisconsin Realtors Association's deceptive, fatally-flawed, anti-consumer, proposed legislative scam/scheme called Designated Agency. Indeed, as time is running out for the WRA to get Speaker Scott Jensen--their ball carrier on this issue--to get this legislation out through normal DAYLIGHT channels, the chances of Speaker Jensen or some other WRA influenced politico trying to get this legislation passed through secretive, back-door channels becomes ever more likely. (You'll recall that Speaker Jensen has already recently admitted before a packed house of Realtors that he owes the WRA a great debt of gratitude for putting him over the top in his first 38 vote squeaker of an election...so his allegiance to a fair process and the citizen consumers of the State of Wisconsin over this WRA-backed legislation may be in question.) So, what's the danger, you ask? Simple. There is a process that can be used to get legislation passed without going through the normal channels which involve public scrutiny and debate. This is the amendment process. Ordinarily, this method is used to handle non-controversial, housekeeping types of legislative issues. The process involves adding amendments to a bill that--due to its importance--eventually HAS to be passed, or eventually will be passed. (In some states, they call these amendments "riders" to a bill.) The amendment in this case, would be the entire Designated Agency proposal which ordinarily would have been a stand-alone Bill. Currently, Wisconsin is in a bit of a fiscal crisis. One of the legislature's top priorities right now is the Budget Bill. No matter what else may be true, there will--prior to the legislature wrapping up for the year--be a Budget Bill which eventually becomes law. Thus, as a vehicle for secretive political skullduggery...the Budget Bill is a natural. All some conniving politician would have to do to get the WRA's Designated Agency patronage scheme into a position where it would be very difficult--due to issues of process--to fight, would be to attach the WRA's legislation as an amendment to the Budget Bill, thus subverting the normal daylight legislative process. No committee oversight. No public hearings. No requirement that it go out on the open floor of each house of the legislature for more debate and an open vote on the merits of the individual proposal known as Designated Agency. Does the fact that this could happen amaze or shock you? Well, it should! In fact, this very technique was used in the State of Connecticut after the concept of Designated Agency was DEFEATED in the open air of the legislature. Some conniving Connecticut legislators snuck the Designated Agency Bill supported by the Connecticut Realtors Association into a Megan's Law Bill--a bill that dealt with public notification issues relative to sexual predators--and, as there was no doubt that this Bill would pass into law...and no awareness on the part of the people who beat the legislation down in open session that this rider had even been created...Designated Agency sailed through and became law in Connecticut via an ugly backdoor process. Is there a place for amendments and riders in the legislative process? Absolutely. When it comes to minor issues of no controversy that few are likely to question, it is undoubtedly a useful legislative housekeeping tool. Should such a technique be used for backdooring controversial legislation like the WRA's anti-consumer Designated Agency scheme? Absolutely not. Any politician who would stoop to abusing this amendment tool to attach something like the WRA's Designated Agency scheme to important legislation like the Budget Bill...or for that matter attach it to any other Bill, should expect his or her legacy to be one of extreme shame and disdain. Yet, in spite of the abuse that can arise from this tool, it is not absolutely impossible to get such an amendment pulled from the Bill upon whose coattails it would ride. (Close to impossible, but not quite impossible.) So, if the WRA does succeed in finding a lackey politico who will introduce their scam using a backdoor legislative process, this by no means releases other legislators from doing the right thing and removing the amendment thus forcing it back into the daylight via normal, future, legislative process. They have that ability. The question is, do they have the will? If not, they too should be held accountable for allowing a legitimate housekeeping process to be put to duplicitous use. Rest assured dear legislators...if you allow this abuse to occur, you will be held accountable. As noted by Attorney William A. Black, legal counsel for the Department of Regulation and Licensing--an entity that, along with the Wisconsin Real Estate Board, refused to endorse the WRA's Designated Agency scheme--there will be other legislative sessions and there is no harm, if Designated Agency is such a good idea, in giving the concept time for further study and debate. Legislators should definitely consider the implications of abusing, or allowing abuse of, the amendment process in support of the WRA's Designated Agency scheme, as their role in such a matter is most definitely being watched. Jay Reifert, Organizer/Director of Operations REAL-Reform (Real Estate Agency Law-Reform) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please contact your legislators and let them know that you expect them to ensure that Designated Agency is introduced as a stand-alone Bill and not as an Amendment to another Bill...if it is introduced at all. You can find out how to contact your legislators to register your opinion by going to: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/wamltest/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, PLEASE forward this message to everyone you can and please print it out--and distribute--to those whom you know that don't have email capabilities.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- [This message is going out to thousands of Wisconsin Realtors, almost 500 governmental officials--including all State Legislators and their respective staffs, the Governor of Wisconsin and most candidates for Governor of Wisconsin, the Attorney General of Wisconsin, over 425 Consumer Advocacy Groups and/or individual Consumer Advocates, over 285 Registered Wisconsin Lobbyists and over 190 Media Outlets.] -- Sincerely Yours, Jay Reifert, Organizer/Director of Operations REAL-Reform (Real Estate Agency Law-Reform) http://www.real-reform.org Jay Reifert, Broker/Owner*****************Excel-Exclusive Buyer Agency 100% Homebuyer Representation********5136 E. Hilltop Road 100% Of The Time****************************Madison, Wisconsin 53711 South Central Wisconsin's ONLY********(800)928-9379, Toll Free Full-Time Exclusive Buyer Agency Firm.***(608)273-8841, Office Visit http://www.true-agent.com ***********(608)273-8388, Fax Machine or http://www.Buy-Madison-Real-Estate.com or mailto:true-agents@true-agent.com