Ethics update

As you've read, the votes aren't there on the ethics proposal to be considered on Thursday. The only reason to run it now would be to make a statement, and that's never been the purpose of raising this issue. Some folks that I thought would be in favor of the proposal have raised some legitimate concerns (mainly its inclusion in the rules rather than by statute, its lack of coverage across other sectors of government, and its lack of an enforcement mechanism). Many members have indicated that they want to revisit ethics reform legislatively in 2009, and the attorney general has announced that he will include an ethics proposal in his next legislative package.

The thing to do at this point is to pull down the proposal, consider those concerns and introduce a comprehensive bill in 2009, and run it through the full legislative process. That's what the seven of us have decided to do. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to enact meaningful legislation on this front in the next session.