Sen. David Weinstein, a Lumberton Democrat, has been appointed to the Legislative Ethics Committee.
The committee consists of six Republicans and six Democrats who set ethical guidelines for legislators and offer guidance on potential conflicts of interests. The group has drawn more attention in recent years with the enactment of new ethics laws and several high profile ethics cases.
"Now, more than ever, it is necessary for a bipartisan effort to self-police," Weinstein said in a statement.
Weinstein, 72, is a retired merchant serving his seventh term. He was appointed to the committee by Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo.
Weinstein replaces Sen. Steve Goss, a Democrat from Boone, who moved up to co-chairman of the committee after the death of Sen. Vernon Malone, a Raleigh Democrat.
UPDATE: An astute Dome reader points out a certain disconnect between Weinstein's appointment to the committee that polices the legislature's ethics and his recent comment to the Fayetteville Observer. Weinstein, explaining that it is unlikely he will run for re-election, added: "It's not as fun as it used to be, all that -- the ethics, and the people report anything you do. They always report the bad things, not the good things, and we do a lot of good things."
Blog RSS feed
Re: Weinstein joins ethics committee
You can't even begin to make this sort of stuff up.
One of Basnight's boys gets to sit on a committee to reform ethics.
Expect a lot of progress out of this group of Keystone Kops.