TNGA GOPers Blitzkrieging Ethics Commission

The Tennessee Republican Party gains control of both the TNGA House and Senate for the first time since the Civil War and what is one the very first legislative goals of the GOPers - to kill the Tennessee Ethics Commission under the pretext of "saving money"...

State may kill ethics agency to save money
Office created in wake of the Waltz scandal
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090411/NEWS0201/904110346/-1/NLETTER01?source=nletter-news

By Brad Schrade
THE TENNESSEAN

April 11, 2009

A Senate committee will take up legislation next week that would effectively kill the Tennessee Ethics Commission, the agency charged with policing lobbyists and lawmakers in state government.

Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, is sponsor of SB 161 and SB 162, which are winding their way through the legislative process. The bills would "sunset" the commission and move its functions to the state Registry of Election Finance, which tracks campaign contributions. Rep. Curry Todd, R- Collierville, is the sponsor of the House versions.



Senator Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro (left)
District 13 — Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, and part of Rutherford Counties Senator Bill Ketron

Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville (right)
District 95 — Part of Shelby County — Map

The commission was created in 2006 in the wake of the Tennessee Waltz bribery sting that occurred at the end of the 2005 legislative session. Federal agents ensnared five sitting or former lawmakers, including former state Sen. John Ford.

Lawmakers created the commission as a way to bring public confidence to "the integrity and transparency of state and local government through the regulation of lobbying activities, financial disclosure requirements and ethical conduct," according to its Web site. It does this through actions of the commission and advisory opinions from its staff.

(...more at hyperlink above)

These two bozos (Ketron and Todd) should be ran out of the Volunteer State...