Louisville Lawmaker Fined by Ethics Commission

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighThe Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission has fined a key state lawmaker from Louisville.The ethics commission is fining Rep. Tom Burch 500-dollars for sending a letter to three appellate court judges. Burch used House stationery and identified himself as a state representative in the letter. He was seeking a favorable ruling in a parental rights case involving one of his constituents.Burch, who chairs the House Health and Welfare committee, says his motives were pure and he didn’t mean to violate the ethics code."I’ve learned a lesson from this here," says Burch. "But I’m still gonna be fighting for parents’ rights to have their children, rather than have them taken away."The commission dismissed ethics complaints against two failed state Senate candidates, who inadvertently accepted campaign donations from lobbyists, but later returned the money.