In the last year I wrote a piece on how nice it was to live in Shelby County. I based my opinion on how well our local governments seem to run. My tune has now changed, not regarding Shelby County, but rather our state government.

As part of my job, it is my duty to pay close attention to the daily occurrences in our State House. Yes, the one that was recently under water. As I listen, watch and generally observe everything that is going on, I can’t help but think we are continually fighting all the wrong battles.

Why on earth do we continue to fight one another over alcohol, sales tax on necessities, and even highway safety issues? Certain issues should be non-partisan no-brainers.

Like texting while driving. It’s terribly unsafe and really should be outlawed. It does not infringe on anyone’s inherent rights, but protects the lives of everyone on the road.

So the question really is this: does your campaign contribution from a cellular phone company really matter that much more than the welfare of our state?

The same type of question could be asked on every issue. So what’s the solution? Clean it all up!

We have heard Ethics reform mentioned during this session, but no one is doing anything about it.

Yes, the governor introduced an ethics bill, but it died without debate. I am baffled by this and wonder why no one, including the governor, tried to push this legislation through.

We must clean up campaign contributions and lobbying tactics. We must force representatives to be transparent and start holding them accountable if we ever want to truly move forward in this state.

I urge you to contact your legislator and ask them to clean up Montgomery for the greater good of our state. And if they won’t, it’s time to elect someone else that will.