June 26, 2005

Echo Chamber

Echoing what I've been saying for three long weeks now, Tennessean columnist Larry Daughtrey today notes that Gov. Phil Bredesen "wasn't much interested in legislative behavior a few months ago," even though now he is considering calling a special legislative session on legislator and lobbying ethics reform.

Daughtrey writes:

A special session may not be pretty. It will focus attention on the maneuverings of the lobbyist crowd to avoid meaningful reform. It will produce roll call votes in committees and on the floor to indicate which legislators are serious about producing results. It may even clarify the standards of conduct everyone expects from a part-time citizen legislature.

Sure, it could be politically explosive. Ramsey fears that the Democrats will try to take credit for cleaning up the system, and they will surely try. Democrats are suspicious that Republicans will use their Senate majority to put their own stamp on the issue and protect their favorite deep-pocket contributors.

Bredesen's ever-active pollsters have certainly told him what he could find out for free at any courthouse square coffee shop: Legislative ethics is now the hottest of Tennessee's political hot buttons, exceeding TennCare, education, abortion, highways and the right to carry your gun in a crowded bar.

The political danger is that nothing will happen. Bredesen will then be tarred as a weak leader who couldn't fix TennCare or the ethics mess as he campaigns for re-election next year. And legislative incumbents will face an even more hostile atmosphere.

Let's turn on the spotlight and make them all sweat.

The only problem with that is, both parties have their deep-pocketed contributors, and deep-pocketed contributors aren't the problem on Capitol Hill as there already are laws capping the amoung that a person can contribute to a lawmakers' campaign. The problem with the Tennessee legislature isn't that each party has some "deep-pocketed contributors" - the problems with the Tennessee legislature are a myriad of other things, ranging from not enough disclosure requirements on lobbyists to a complete lack of prohibition on legislators serving on committees that impact the industries or businesses in which they have a financial interest.

Daughtrey ignores all that and goes for the cheap shot at the GOP, the party that has "deep-pocketed contributors." But the biggest "deep-pocketed contributor" in Tennessee over the last few election cycles has given millions of dollars exclusively to Democrats, and helped bankroll the winning 2002 gubernatorial campaign. His name? Phil Bredesen.