From the Wheeling News-Register:
Incredibly — or, if you have followed politics for a few years, perhaps not — an important ethics law in West Virginia exempts state legislators and other elected officials.
Most state employees are banned from having financial interests in public contracts. That is, they cannot steer business toward companies in which they or their families are involved. Obviously, legislators shoud be banned from such conflicts of interest, too.
Senate Bill 370, introduced by state Sen. William Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio, would do that.
But last week, it was tabled by the Senate Government Organization Committee. “They tell me other bills had to be addressed,” Ihlenfeld said.
Perhaps. But the bill should not be left on the shelf. It should be enacted.
