Conflicts of interest

When I covered the legislature for The News & Observer, we reported on a House member who sponsored a bill that directly benefitted his business.

We asked him, isn’t that a conflict of interest? He was defiant: “This bill doesn’t conflict with my interests.”

This week, Lucille Sherman reported in Axios, “House Rules Chairman Rep. John Bell, who is also the president of a hemp manufacturing and distribution company, has been the point person in his chamber on several proposed bills making their way through the legislature that could impact his company. He also has the power to determine their fate.

“Bell, who is among the most powerful elected officials in North Carolina, is uniquely positioned to shape the laws that could be of significant financial gain — or detriment — to the company he leads.”

Like that legislator before him, Bell was defiant: “We’ve got a car dealer piece that’s going on right now, back and forth. How many car dealers do we have in the General Assembly? Does anybody say shit about that?”

No, nobody has said anything, because we didn’t know about it.

Now we do.

Maybe the media will report on it.

Legislators get away with a lot today because voters know too little about what they do.

That was the value of a powerful, aggressive newspaper like The News & Observer, which kept a close eye on the legislature and all of state government.

Every so often, when voters learn the truth, they throw the bums out.

Photo: The News & Observer