Weakened Ethics Bill Passes, On to Bredesen Ward Crutchfield voted for it. Kathryn Bowers voted for it. Yes, campers, we have a snazzy new ethics reform bill all voted for in its bright and shiny new clothes by the Tennessee General Assembly. Are there problems with it? Probably. Lobbyists seem to like it, which sort of scares me and makes me wonder why our taxpayers have spent more than 19 grand a day for the politicos to fight it out in Nashvegas over this thing. Crutchfield and Bowers, indicted last year in the Tennessee Waltz, liked it enough to vote for it. Irony. Oh, the irony. The New York Times has got the story. This is the part that caught my eye:

"Some lawmakers protested that the bill passed Monday dropped stiffer regulations, like a ban on cash contributions and a system for public financing of campaigns. Senator Doug Jackson, Democrat of Dickson, said the compromise version "gutted the work of this Senate, and did it in secrecy."

"The hypocrisy of it all," Mr. Jackson said. "All done in secrecy. It's just not right."

I'm going to let this all digest now.  ¶ 2/06/2006 10:32:00 PM