Greg Stumbo Comes To His Senses

Greg Stumbo has apparently come to his senses. Or at least, to someone's senses. Whatever the case, I'm just glad the introduction worked.

The House Speaker has stopped movement on his Government Accountability Watchdog Division (GAWD for short) after numerous groups, individuals, and institutions said, in effect, "Have you lost your effing mind?!"

The bill would have set up an investigative arm of the General Assembly, apparently duplicating the work of the State Auditor's office and the Attorney General. In addition, the group would be immune to open records requests, and would not be required to share its findings.

Outside of its eerie resemblance to something Ken Starr or Dick Cheney would have designed, the most troubling aspect of the bill was that the group's records would even be immune to court subpoenas. So much for the rule of law.

This is a major bill creating a powerful and sweeping organization. Outside of the numerous things wrong with the bill, it is too big to do in a short session. Pulling it back for "more study" is the right thing to do. Here's hoping it gets studied right into File 13 before next session.