Editorial: Ethics Amendment - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Editorial: Ethics Amendment

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By Collin R. Gaston - bio | email

  • Editorials

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  • Thursday, May 16 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-16 23:20:04 GMT
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    •   
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -

The state of Alabama currently has four Affiliated Double A, Minor League Baseball teams out of only 30 in the United States with only Texas and Pennsylvania having as many teams.

These teams which hold value for our state and communities face serious issues if the current ethics reform bill passes without a proposed amendment.  The current ethic reform bill poses unintended consequences on these teams which having a dramatic impact on their ability to maintain viable organizations and continue to positively impact the communities in which they operate.

The current ethics bill, as it stands now, will not allow public officials (teachers, janitors at schools or anyone paid by a city, county or state) to receive a $9 ticket as a nice gesture from someone.  By doing so a number of individuals and organizations may forgo buying tickets to baseball games as to not risk a violation of the law.

The impact of this will be far reaching.  Double A baseball in our state provides jobs, land acquisition for ballparks, and economic development for cities such as our own in downtown Montgomery.  Baseball is our great American pastime-but it is also a business- reduced ticket sales due to the unintended consequences of this bill will hurt these organizations.

We encourage the legislators to consider the amendment allowing for public officials (teachers, janitors, etc) to be able to receive a ticket to the ballgame but still holding firm that this will not apply to legislators.

Let's not strike out on this one.

We welcome your feedback.

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