My eyes roll every time a politician tells me how we need “ethics reform” without telling me who the unethical people are.
They’re usually Democrats who say this, but that makes it worse, because they become hypocrites.
I was speaking to an editorial board who was trying to convince me that ethics reform is needed, and I replied, “Sounds like the Voter ID issue to me” and they looked at me incredulously.
I said, “You opposed any voting reform unless someone proved to you how pervasive voter fraud was. To be consistent, shouldn’t you oppose ethics reform until someone proves to you how many unethical elected officials there are?”
They didn’t like the idea of being consistent, so they had no reply.
But I’m more than happy to use their logic against them.
Before passing any “ethics reform,” require the patron of the bill to demonstrate the actual evidence of unethical actions. Name the elected officials who have done unethical things so we all know how pervasive the problem is.
How many unethical Delegates and Senators are there? 1? 12? 34?
Ever notice that the people who propose ethics reforms never admit to being unethical? Somehow they manage to survive the onslaught of temptations that are so powerful that legislation is needed to combat it.
Perhaps instead of adding more laws, the patrons of ethics reform should share with their colleagues their genius-level secrets of staying so ethical while the rest of the legislature wallows in corruption.
And how deep is that wallowing?
Any legislation faces the question, “How big is the problem and will this bill solve it?” Ethics reform should face the same scrutiny.
How else can the people judge whether a problem actually exists, how big of a problem it truly is, and whether the legislation proposed would actually solve the problem?
We need ethics reform in Virginia? Then name the unethical!
