Oath

I have a few friends who serve the city of Knoxville as councilman .I went to the recent swearing in ceremony and was struck by how much in the oath was on ethics .

"......I FURTHER SWEAR DO NOT HAVE ANY CONTRACTS WITH THE CITY; THAT I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL INTEREST IN ANY BUSINESS OR ENTITY HAVING CONTRACTS WITH THE CITY ;THAT I DO NOT HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST IN ANY PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION ENGAGED IN BUSINESS IN THE CITY ; AND THAT I WILL NOT ENTER INTO SUCH CONTRACT OR OBTAIN SUCH AN INTEREST WHILE I SERVE IN THIS OFFICE OR POSITION ,SO HELP ME GOD."

Notice it does not say "unless I am a lawyer" as the proposed ethics bill does. If we changed the word "city" to the word "state" several legislators would have a significant pay grade drop.