Our news is so nationalized, people do not pay a whole lot of attention to state legislatures. For example, I know the name of my state senator and state representative, but only because I make an effort to pay attention. And I don't know a whole lot about them beyond their names, other than the fact that they are both Democrats. I bet 90% of people in Pennsylvania don't even know that.
Anyway, being a state legislator puts you in a nice position. They have some actual power, without too much attention. Because local news is mostly dead in the U.S., you can get away with a lot without ever getting caught, just because no one is really looking.
I bet many of the members of the Tennessee legislature, like state legislators everywhere,, have a bunch of shady things going on that are not well hidden because, why bother? And now, thanks to their racist temper-tantrum, a lot of people are suddenly watching. So this should get interesting.
