Why are Prince George's County Council members blocking ethics reform?

The new county executive, Rushern L. Baker III, took office promising a package of reforms to clean up the ethics cesspool. Two of these measures require state legislative action and are now before the General Assembly in Annapolis. Amazingly, they have run into a wall of opposition from the County Council.

We say "amazingly" in part because the newly sworn council members - with the glaring exception of Leslie Johnson, from whose now-notorious undergarments the FBI extracted $80,000 - are actually a major improvement on their predecessors. Most of the worst ethical offenders on the previous council are gone, thanks to term limits. The new council includes several bright lights of unquestioned personal integrity.

Still, the new council is fighting Mr. Baker's ethical reforms in the name of its own precious prerogatives - exactly the prerogatives that helped saddle the county with the abysmal regional and national image it suffers from today.