When N.C. Senate leaders rolled out an ethics bill this week that included a proposal to expand the state’s dubious taxpayer-financed election campaign system,  John Locke Foundation President John Hood responded with a column calling the bill “unethical.” Senate Republicans highlighted the column, and their Democratic counterparts ended up scuttling the plan. GOP senators also promoted this week Hood’s Daily Journal column on “confusing” Democratic politicians and left-of-center activists, along with a column on a proposed congressional bailout of state governments. That column also attracted attention from the News & Observer‘s WakeEd blog because of its references to the NAACP’s fight against the Wake County school board’s conservative majority. The News & Observer and High Point Enterprise editorial pages took note this week of Hood’s stance against a state government proposal to ban Internet sweepstakes cafes. On the national front, readers of National Affairs had a chance to read Hood’s assessment of the most effective means of reforming Medicaid across the country.