BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
Bloggers Play Role in Tennessee Legislative Ethics Push
Today's Tennesseanreports that the public is pushing the Tennessee legislature to adopt tougher ethics rules for legislators - and says bloggers are playing a role, too.
Republicans and Democrats in the state Capitol appear to have started a race to see who can pass new, thorough ethics rules to better police lawmakers.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation yesterday that makes it a crime for members of the General Assembly to receive consulting fees, with the bill's sponsor fighting off efforts to delay approval. Hours earlier, Senate Democrats rolled out a package of ethics bills also designed to prohibit legislators from accepting consulting contracts.
Those moves came on the heels of a suite of ethics proposals crafted by Republicans that would toughen lobbyist disclosure rules and prohibit legislators from immediately taking a lobbying job after leaving office.
The push for more stringent ethics rules seems to have been spurred by a tsunami-size wave of public interest in ethics on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers have been flooded with calls, e-mails and letters, all of which have been amplified by bloggers on the Internet and the hosts of local talk-radio shows.
Two quick comments: 1. Ever since a quarter of a million people in Asia were killed by a tsunami, I have seen a big increase in the use of the word tsunami as a metaphor or descriptive in news stories that have nothing to do with tsunamis. Which seems a bit insensitive.
2. I'm glad to see the Tennessean has finally noticed the role bloggers are playing in shaping the public debate, but it would have been nice if the story actually detailed how - and which - bloggers are doing so in this case.
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Today's Tennessean