OK, Memphis Democrat Ulysses Jones, Jr. was just appointed the chair of the Tennessee House Ethics Committee. This seems interesting.
Now, follow me here. Yesterday, Rep. Brian Kelsey filed an ethics complaint against House Speaker Kent WIlliams. Kelsey was one of the main proponents of strengthening the state ethics law enacted in 2006 in the wake of the Tennessee Waltz scandal (in which Jones was implicated by an FBI informant but never charged). Kelsey, in 2007, introduced a provision to the ethics law that would prohibit state legislators from accepting meals free meals from lobbyists or groups connected to lobbyists (under the law they can accept meals up to $50 in value). Jones has famously opposed such restrictions over and over again, arguing for disclosure rather than prohibition of free meals.
So, Jones, a political rival of the man who made an ethics violation complaint against Williams, was appointed as the chair of the Committee tasked with investigating that very complaint.
Huh.
Update: Kelsey is pissed.
Press Release:
"For the Speaker to go ahead and appoint the members of the Ethics Committee, knowing that they will be hearing a pending complaint against him shows a further lack of ethical judgment. It's a clear conflict of interest for the Speaker to hand-pick all his own jurors."
Rep. Kelsey filed an Ethics Complaint yesterday against Speaker of the House Kent Williams for Williams's acts of sexual harassment and for making a false statement to the public regarding the allegations. Kelsey's complaint included a motion that that the Speaker recuse himself from the appointment of the Ethics Committee and instead allow Leaders Odom and Mumpower to appoint the members of the Ethics Committee, each appointing members from his own party caucus in equal numbers. Instead, this morning Speaker Williams appointed the members of the committee himself. The Ethics Committee will be charged with holding a hearing on the Ethics Complaint filed against Williams.
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