Virginia: 1 in 5 state lawmakers have more than $50,000 in debt

An analysis by The Associated Press shows that about one in five Virginia legislators has at least $50,000 in personal debt besides a mortgage.
    
But for most of the debts the public currently has no way of knowing whether their elected officials are carrying a car loan or a mountain of credit card bills similar to what prosecutors suggested helped drive former Gov. Bob McDonnell into taking bribes from a smooth-talking vitamin salesman.
    
More transparency may be coming. Lawmakers say they want a new ethics council to come up with a new financial disclosure form that increases transparency of a lawmaker’s personal finances.
    
Lawmakers have pledged to reform the state’s ethics laws in the wake of the McDonnell scandal.