One of the few ethics rules passed by the Legislature, which would have at least slowed the revolving door between serving and becoming a lobbyist, turns out to be useless.

HB345 was supposed to require a one-year cooling-off period before a lawmaker could return as a lobbyist. Former Speaker of the House Greg Curtis, right, former Rep. Mark Walker and former Sen. Mike Dmitrich were living examples of why the rule was needed when they immediately haunted the halls of the Capitol as special-interest lobbyists.

But the Lt. Governor's Office, which would have enforced the rule, says that sloppily written exemptions in the bill probably make it impossible to enforce. Before the passed, many lawmakers were aware of the bill's language problem, but kept it to themselves.

What was supposed to be the year of ethics reform on the Hill is turning out to be a bust.