Lawmakers might be scraping all the work that they have done in the last few weeks in regard to ethics reform. Mumpower of Bristol introduced the bill yesterday to give the special session a "fresh start" from the 100-page document that they are currently working with. I've read over the highlights in the article by the Tennessean, and it seems that Mumpower's bill would at least give us some progress on ethics reform. Do I think that it will eliminate all corruption with lawmakers? Of course not, but this is at least a start. If in the future we find that the work from this session on ethics didn't work, we'll change the law once again. Sure, it would be nice to hit it in the nail the first time around, but I do believe that is a dream that will never be accomplished. Just think about. Legislators are setting their own rules and guidelines. Of course there are going to be plenty of loopholes so that lobbyists can "wine and dine" lawmakers; this is a reality that we have to deal with. Although this bill definitely has its shortcomings, I feel this is the best that we are going to get from our representatives in Nashville, and I hope that this will at least create some kind of accountability. (story here)
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