Tilley won't oppose ethics bill if it includes campaign contribution limits

House Majority Leader Steve Tilley's bill government reform bill includes no mention of campaign contribution limits, an idea he opposes, but he said today during the first meeting of the House Special Committee on Government Reform and Ethics that he would not oppose an ethics bill if it included limits:

“I come as a sinner, and not necessarily a saint,” Tilley said about his proposals. He formerly hired ex-speaker Rod Jetton as a political consultant, and until late last year, he racked up among the highest totals of lobbyists’ gifts.

“I don’t think anybody on this committee is going to change their vote for a $30 steak, but I think it’s gotten out of control,” Tilley, the majority floor leader of the House, said of the common practice of lobbyists buying lawmakers’ meals.

But, as committee chairman Kevin Wilson noted, most of the discussion on Tilley’s bill also focused on campaign finance limits and why he was opposed to them.

Wilson said he planned to hear all the various ethics proposals and then pass one, bipartisan bill out of his committee.

And while Tilley said he was opposed to campaign finance limits, he added a caveat:

“If limits are put on this bill, I’m not going to kill the bill.”