The Dog & Pony Show Continues

It was apparently all for show, all that sound and fury over "ethics reform" in Nashville. It signified nothing, as this Tennessean article shows.

A group of House leaders on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill is using staff to collect money for a dinner featuring a lobbyist as a key speaker.

The lobbyist, John Lyell, will be giving lawmakers “a full report on the current status of the Tennessee General Assembly,” Rep. Joe Fowlkes, D-Cornersville, announced last week on the House floor.

Fowlkes said that his office is collecting money for the Rural Middle Tennessee House Democratic Caucus event, scheduled for tomorrow.

Fowlkes, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has a staff member collecting the money at his office, as do Rep. Stratton Bone, D-Lebanon, and Rep. Gene Davidson, D-Adams.

Fliers have been hung around the Capitol advertising the $35-per-ticket dinner.

Lyell represents special interests such as health-care companies and Realtors. Also speaking will be a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, who will “read a poem on the lobbyists of the General Assembly,” Fowlkes said on the House floor.

Yeah, they sure fixed that problem, didn't they?