Dear Georgia Legislators:

Here’s the deal: You know why HB 798, the ethics reform bill, is good for yourconstituents. It helps limit lobbyist spending by capping expenditures at $100. It makes it so the people of Georgia can actually remember what that group that used to be called the State Ethics Commission is and what they do by restoring their name. It stops public officers and their families from getting government contracts, reducing incidences of corruption.

I’m not too sure why, but you all aren’t as excited as you should be about the ethics reform bill and what it’s proposing. So, whatever your reasons are for not supporting the bill, here are several reasons why you should. Bottom line: this bill is not only good for your constituents but it’s good for you too.

1. You’ll get re-elected and improve voter relations

Ethics reform benefits you for two main reasons: It gives you tools to improve voter relations and get reelected and it helps improve the public’s perception of legislative ethics. The long and short of it is that it helps you listen to voters, give voters what they want, look (and act) good, and get reelected. Let’s start with the obvious: According to a recent Atlanta Journal Constitution poll, 72 percent of Georgians support ethics reform. Seventy-two percent! Numbers like that are more than enough to get you reelected and to put you back into office with constituents happy that you listened to what they wanted. It’s your classic win/win.

2. You’ll increase voter confidence

By listening to voters, you’re also increasing voter confidence in their role in government. There are probably votes that come up that you personally are ambivalent on, ones where you can’t immediately tell what would be best for your district. You have constituents who do know what is best for them, but you’ll never know if they feel like their voice won’t make a difference. By voting for ethics reform, by saying, “yes, I am listening and your voice is important to me,” you’ll start hearing those voices. That’s not to say that you’ll suddenly be buried under an avalanche of calls, letters, and emails, just that people will start letting you know what they think instead of you having to guess, seek it out, or learn from the press. You’ll know what’s important to your constituents, have a chance to explain why you might feel another decision might be best for your district, and keep your voters happy by actively listening to them.

3. You’ll do what’s best for Georgia voters

Passing the ethics reform bill is just a small step in that process, but it’s an important one. The fact that you listen to your constituents about ethics reform, something that will curtail certain perks of being a legislator that up until now were seen as being part of the job, sends an even stronger message to your constituents. You’re doing what’s best for them, even if it means that you miss out on something like Braves tickets. (Actually, you can still go to Braves games under the new bill. You might be sitting in some $10 seats and washing down your concession stand hot dogs with beer from a plastic cup, but I think that just makes for a more authentic experience and gives you a pretty good PR opportunity.) By passing HB 798 you’re sending the message that you get what it’s like to be one of your constituents in a much more effective way than a 3-second clip of posing with a hard hat in a campaign commercial can.

4. You’ll regain voter trust

All of that’s well and good, but there are other ways to do those things. What is it about this ethics reform bill specifically that benefits you? The truth of the matter is, limiting lobbyist expenditures is a huge help to legislators (seriously, I don’t know why you all didn’t pass this long ago). When it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter if you have honestly never let a single thing a lobbyist has paid for influenced your vote, not even subconsciously. It doesn’t matter if every single time you have voted you have had the best interests of your district and Georgia at heart.

What matters is that, when your constituents find out that you went on some outing courtesy of lobbyists that cost more than their rent or house payment, they’re not going to believe you when you say you voted a certain way because it was the right thing for your district. It doesn’t matter if you have really, really good reasons why, reasons that the average person in your district might not know. People are going to assume, and most will disbelieve you no matter what you say to convince them otherwise, that you chose how to vote because of what you got from lobbyists.

5. You’ll prove who you really work for

When you vote ‘yes’ for ethics reform, however, you’re taking a stand. You’re letting your constituents know that you don’t want them to even have to think you’ve been influenced by lobbyists—you want them to know you’re voting in their best interests. By supporting HB 798, you’re not trying to impugn your colleagues’ integrity. You’re not admitting that anything you’ve received from lobbyists in the past might have been unethical. No. That’s not what’s at issue here.

By supporting HB 798, you’re saying, “Yeah, I get it. I get that, even if not a single legislator lets their decisions be influenced by lobbyists, it can look like it does. I get that people are going to look at lobbying and think, ‘Well, I can’t spend thousands of dollars lobbying so my voice doesn’t matter. The General Assembly doesn’t care about me or what I think.’ I get that, the way things are right now, it doesn’t matter if every single public official is as ethical as possible, because not everyone has been in the past and public perception can be more important than reality.”

Of course, I won’t tell you that there aren’t any downsides to supporting HB 798. Right now it doesn’t have as much support from legislators as it should. There are members of the House leadership that don’t see why it’s necessary, but maybe they just need a pair of reading glasses instead of a trip to Europe. Lobbyists probably aren’t ecstatic about it. But at the end of the day, this is the right thing to do.

The majority of Georgians support ethics reform. Supporting ethics reform can increase voter confidence and participation, making your job easier. Ethics reform also improves the public image of legislators in the short and long runs. Ethics reform is good for everyone: citizens, legislators, even lobbyists (at the end of the day, they’re constituents, too). Yes, the laws we have now are great, but they’re not enough. Ethics reform is not only wanted and needed; it’s something that makes Georgia’s government work better and improves the lives of Georgians. And who doesn’t want that?

−Kari Storla is a social media associate at Common Cause Georgia.