Downplaying the D.C. Council’s financial disclosure requirements as a bunch of “gotcha” rules, Councilman Jack Evans wants them reviewed and amended even though they’ve been in effect for less than a year. Evans was particularly dismissive of the rule requiring council members to report any free admission to sporting or other events they accept while on official duty. “I would get rid of this tomorrow if I could get six people to agree with me,” he told The Washington Examiner’s Alan Blinder.

Designed to identify actual or potential conflicts of interest between council members and lobbyists or companies doing business — or wanting to do business — with the city, the “gotcha” requirements were passed in 2011 as part of an ethics reform bill that was touted at the time as “the most comprehensive overhaul … in a generation.” They do need to be updated — but not the way the Ward 2 councilman thinks.