Sex in the capitol

Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, April 3, 2015.

Under the heading of “Just plain weird” was this finding from the State Ethics Commission regarding gifts or services provided to lawmakers or their staffs from lobbyists: Apparently sexual relationships don’t qualify under existing rules.

OK.

Indeed, politics makes strange bedfellows, as the saying goes. And while it seems like common sense that legislators and their staffs, who are strictly forbidden from accepting gifts and services from lobbyists, also shouldn’t be bedding them while there’s state business at stake, common sense is often in short supply these days. Of note, several staffers for former House Speaker Thom Tillis made hasty exits a couple of years ago after they were caught engaging in intimate partnerships with lobbyists.

So we applaud a bipartisan bill introduced in the General Assembly to hopefully bring clarity to this issue. Under the proposal, legislative officials in sexual relationships with lobbyists would have to recuse themselves on issues related to the lobbyists’ business.

Hopefully, this puts the issue to bed.