FLASHPOINT for Jan 9, 2007

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

So now we know what our politicians in Carson City and D.C. care about most: Ethics. They are chattering about their plans for reform, as if they have been deeply committed to such actions for some time and not simply reacting to the inevitable backlash against the G-Sting and Abramoff scandals. But reform is in the eye of the beholder and in the hands of the reformers, so we'll see what they do in either cloistered environment. Federal and state lawmakers have for years resisted such efforts, and are on their soapboxes now mostly out of political convenience. They should not genuflect to gadflies, but should strive for transparency. Whatever is motivating them � politics or principle � let's see if they pass anything substantive.