READ Posters Ethically Dubious

You should think twice before you take a bundle of READ posters featuring your legislator to legislative day to give to your representative, according to this Albany Times Union article. A proposed ethics law, if passed by the New York state Senate, will ban “all lobbying gifts except those of nominal value. Also, public officials will not be allowed to appear in any ads paid for with taxpayers’ dollars.”

Michael J. Borges, chief lobbyist for the NY Library Association says that the posters are okay, but a representative from the New York Public Interest Research Group says it’s “unclear” whether or not the posters would be included among forbidden gifts.