Then again

Okay, so it could be worse. A state lawmaker could be leaving for a job in the private sector as a lobbyist. While deciding to keep his current job.

Improbable? Take a look at what's happening in Nevada:

State Sen. Mark Amodei, a Carson City Republican, has been hired on as the new president of the Nevada Mining Association. (However, he's stepping down from a position at a law firm. And, to be fair, they have a part-time, low-paid legislature, from the looks of it.)

"Asked whether heading the mining association would create a conflict with his seat in the Nevada Senate, Amodei cited his and his law firm's long lists of clients with lobbying interests in the Legislature.

'My potential conflicts have just taken about an 80 percent drop,' he said.

But Amodei said he and the association's board would specifically concentrate on that issue.

'If, in order for me to be clean, I need to not be in that position and that's the conclusion we come to, then that's what I'll do,' he said.

But he said he expects disclosing his situation and abstaining from certain specific votes will take care of any conflict.

He also pointed out that he won't be running again because of term limits so the 2009 session will be his last in any case.

Paging Pam Wilmot...

[via 13th floor]