It has begun.

The systematic dismantling of the ethics law. It was bound to happen, when the seat of power became a hot seat. It was practically guaranteed.

Everything the Alabama Legislature ever said about the importance of integrity was a sham. Just tattered platitudes and lies.

More lies.

Alabama Sen. Gerald Dial, a Republican from Lineville who has been in the Legislature long enough to not care what any of us think, has filed a bill - SB279 - that would make indicted House Speaker Mike Hubbard gurgle happily in his sleep.

It is stunning.

First, it would allow politicians or public workers to go to the Ethics Commission director or its lawyers and ask for an informal opinion about an ethics question. Like, say, "Can I take bags of money from a guy who wants a law passed about pharmaceuticals."

Under the bill those "informal" opinions would give actual immunity to the person who asked.

So if a lawyer at the Ethics Commission decides, say, that lobbying the governor is not illegal, even though the law says it is, the person who lobbied the governor gets a Don't Go to Jail card.

Thanks for asking. And go in peace.

But that's not even the worst of it. Not really. The bill - they ought to call it the Mark Twain Bill because it proves old Mark's adage that nothing and no one is safe when the Legislature is in session - would also make corrupt public officials almost untouchable to state prosecutors.

Sen. Gerald Dial

It says the Attorney General's office and county district attorneys' offices can no longer step up and step in to investigate violations of the ethics law.

That's right. It's not really the Mark Twain Bill, but the Free Mike Hubbard Bill. It says the AG, which investigated Hubbard , and the DAs, who investigate most of the other corruption when it gets investigated at all, can only get involved after the Ethics Commission determines a violation of the ethics law has occurred.

Dear Lord. It's the highway to corruption hell, in a state that really ought to know better.

The Ethics Commission is already far too dependent on the Legislature. It is weak-kneed and weak-willed and motivated to make peace. This is a body that had to force one of its own commissioners to resign last year because she refused to fill out the financial disclosure form the law requires of all public officials.

It's the body that told Rep. Patricia Todd, a Democrat from Birmingham, that she could serve as a legislator and the head of a lobbying organization at the same time. It's the bunch that informally opined that Mike Hubbard could step real close to the flames.

There's more to this thing. More.

This bill would shred the revolving door part of the ethics law - which keeps politicians from taking kickbacks on the back end by quitting their positions and immediately going to work as lobbyists.

It would limit the revolving door law only to those elected to state office.

I guess we should thank our lucky stars the legislators are still included as state officers. Otherwise it would be truly open season.

Dial acknowledged problems with the bill this afternoon. He said he has met with Ethics Commission officials and will seek input from others "to clear up ambiguities." The bill is likely to change, he said.

"If it looks like it's going down the wrong path, we'll throw it in the trash," he said.

Please. Please. Just throw it away.

We cheered when legislators passed ethics reform. It was but a word on a campaign sign, a promise to forget, and ultimately to break.

Ethics reform in Alabama is in tatters. Watch as they rip it apart.

Please watch.