Ethics reform? We don’t need no stinking ethics reform. That about sums up the sentiment of an hour-long debate in the Virginia Senate yesterday—well, until lawmakers passed an omnibus bill of anti-corruption measures by a margin of 35 to 1, that is.
So if they didn’t like the legislation, why vote for it? It’s the media, stupid.
As newspapers throughout the commonwealth pointed out this morning, senators in Virginia are still reeling from the stink of scandal after the embarrassing trial of their former governor, Bob McDonnell, and they appear to believe that some of that lingering stench has unfairly wafted into their august chamber.
A Virginia judge sentenced the ex-governor to two years in prison after a jury found him guilty of accepting gobs of gifts, loans, and hospitality from a wealthy businessman who was trying to curry support for a miracle drug. The case set off a wave of news stories and editorials—just the sort of thing we’d called for here—about the weak ethics laws governing the members of a political elite who traditionally view themselves as an incorruptible bunch.
Now, a legislative package that creates an ethics advisory panel, caps gifts at $100, and ends free travel and entertainment appears on its way to passage—but some lawmakers made clear just how unhappy they were to have to take it up.
From today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch:
A reluctant Virginia Senate passed its version of ethics reform Tuesday—but not before a series of speeches that derided its own bill as impractical, burdensome, self-hating, replete with “trip wires” and motivated by pressure from news media.
And here’s The Virginian-Pilot:
If you were listening to the state Senate debate Tuesday on ethics reform, you might have come away thinking that the public hasn’t even asked for change. It’s just the media demanding it, and the press won’t be happy until lawmakers stop accepting gifts.
And The Associated Press:
The measures passed by overwhelming margins, but not before some legislators expressed concern that they were overreacting to expectations generated by the news media following last year’s corruption trial of former Gov. Bob McDonnell.
The most entertaining piece comes from today’s op-ed page of The Virginian-Pilot, where columnist Kerry Dougherty suggests newspaper publishers around the commonwealth will be missing an opportunity if they don’t use the senators’ remarks in promotional ads for why newspapers matter.
We thought you might want to hear it directly from the senators, though, so here’s a brief montage of some of the floor speeches yesterday in which these lawmakers blame the media (if you’re reading this on our mobile site, click here for the video). Featured are, in order, Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania; Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan; Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, and Watkins again. (Thanks to the Senate clerk’s office and Information Systems* for making the video available.)
* Correction: This article originally misstated the name of the entity that made the video available.
Corey Hutchins is CJR’s correspondent based in Colorado, where he teaches journalism at Colorado College. A former alt-weekly reporter in South Carolina, he was twice named journalist of the year in the weekly division by the SC Press Association. Hutchins writes about politics and media for the Colorado Independent and worked on the State Integrity Investigation at the Center for Public Integrity; he has contributed to Slate, The Nation, the Washington Post, and others. Follow him on Twitter @coreyhutchins or email him at coreyhutchins@gmail.com.