If there's one thing I'm proud of at ProgressNow it's that stuff like the Joe Stengel affair from early this year is less likely to occur now that we're casing the joint. Through the efforts of a few honest representatives and aided by all those petitions and letter campaigns we mailed out this year and you signed (they really do get paid attention to, folks), your Colorado state government doesn't play by the same rules they used to. They're something closer to what you--wait for it--want in an honest, accountable government now.

I like to think it got rolling last February:

The non-partisan Legislative Council reports that in 2005 [then-Minority Leader Joe] Stengel collected a check for 240 of the 247 days out of session, including Saturdays and Sundays. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Stengel claims that the 7 days he didn't work were the major holidays.

So those 240 days Stengel billed included the 5 days he spent vacationing in Hawaii, time campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman, traveling statewide as Chairman of the campaign against Referenda C&D, and 2 full days taking the bar examination.

This, as you may remember, led to...

Request for ethics investigation of Rep. Joe Stengel

After which it was only a matter of time until...

Stengel resigns as minority leader

I have to say that as scalps go, this one was particularly sweet. Nobody's screwing around with their per diem now. And there couldn't have been a better case for the kind of tough ethics reform Colorado voters passed this November...actually, stay tuned for the Rick O'Donnell "Best Of" entry.

Next: Both Ways Bob (director's commentary).