The Senate Ethics Committee has reconvened this morning, and heard first from Senate Assistant Minority Leader Les Bock, who urged the panel not to summarily dismiss the ethics complaint against Senate Resources Chairman Monty Pearce. Citing Senate rules, Bock said, "It says this committee shall investigate and determine if an ethical violation has occurred. ... To date, we have had no investigation."

Bock said, "The good senator's attorney has said that this is an act of political theater. Well, I object to that." He said Pearce came up to him yesterday in a parking lot, "and said this is just a political game. This is not a political game, this is dead serious. It implicates the ability of the Senate to perform its duties in an objective, comprehensive way. And I urge you to uphold the integrity of the legislative process and not dismiss the complaint. It should go forward."

Bock noted that Pearce disclosed a conflict of interest before the Senate's final vote on HB 464, on oil and gas drilling, because he has oil and gas leases on his land, including one with a major proponent of the bill. "This isn't merely speculative," Bock said. Pearce had already cast at least three votes on the bill at that point. "The fact that he mentioned that he may have had a possible conflict, demonstrates that he knew that he had an obligation to disclose," Bock said, "and those prior votes therefore become suspect."