Ethics Will Be On the Table Starting Tuesday The Jackson Sun is reporting about the ethics situation in Nashvegas. This could be a battle because some of the perks our elected officials have received over the years would be eliminated, but some of the draft would also give new perks to others. Is this the right plan? It depends on who you ask. Here's a snippet from the story written by Trent Siebert, Bonnie de la Cruz and Michael Cass.

Some other examples of routine legislative practices that would be made off-limits if the draft bill becomes law:

House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, would no longer be allowed to dip into his campaign fund to buy Tennessee Titans tickets, like he did in 2004 to the tune of $1,211, unless the tickets are for a specific campaign or officeholder activity.

Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland, would no longer be allowed to accept $1,000 campaign contributions in cash like the one he got last year - from a person who turned out to be connected with an FBI sting operation. The limit on cash contributions would be shaved to $100 under the draft bill.

And Dunn, who said he will introduce a tougher version of ethics legislation in the next few days, will himself be affected even if the "weaker" ethics bill becomes law: He used his campaign cash recently to buy a used tuxedo he donned to attended a black-tie affair thrown by the governor.

  ¶ 1/08/2006 07:10:00 AM