Ethics Reform

There are a lot of stupid reasons for opposing ethics reform
initiatives, but an organization in Utah has <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pull%20a%20Plaxico&quot; target="”_blank”">pulled a Plaxico Burress</a>
with the stupidest of all.<br>
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<b>Update:</b> November 13, 2009 (see below)<br>
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Massachusetts has been very busy reforming its ethics laws. Most of the
reforms involve the increase of penalties, plugging loopholes, banning
gifts, and increasing the authority of the state ethics commission,
which has jurisdiction over local government officials and employees.

According to <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1723410,CST-NWS-ethics19.article"…
article in yesterday's Chicago <span>Sun-Times</span></a>,
Illinois Gov. Quinn called the new ethics bill he signed a "landmark"
change to the state's political culture. However, Patrick Collins, whom
Quinn had named to chair the commission that recommended these ethics

People frequently belittle government ethics reforms as meaningless
window dressing intended to make politicians look like they're being
ethical, something I have said myself in certain contexts. Yet it is
worth reading an extreme view of this, which oddly comes from a
journalist writing a blog that takes "an evangelical Christian
viewpoint."<br>
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<big>"Even the baby Jesus accepted gifts, and I don't think it corrupted
him." and "The taking of gifts does not corrupt a person. It's when
you're taking those gifts for personal gain that they corrupt you."</big><br>
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