Now it's the Democrats' turn to get a black eye

How quick things change.

Last week U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, and state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, gave Texas Democrats lots of political ammunition. Barton, the ranking Republican on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, for apologizing to BP. And Harper-Brown, a member of the influential Transportation Committee, after the Dallas Morning News reported that she drives a 2010 Mercedes Benz owned by a company that does millions of dollars in business with the state.

Although no one has accused Harper-Brown of any illegal activity, her critics have accused her of being unethical and the Texas Democratic Party has even asked House Speaker Joe Straus to remove her from the Transportation Committee.

Now it is the Democrats' turn to get a black eye. Various news organizations in the Rio Grande Valley are reporting that state Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra, D-South Padre Island, a dentist, has been indicted on Medicaid fraud charges. And yesterday, former state Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, reported to a federal prison in Kentucky to begin a year-long sentence for tax fraud.

If Rios Ybarra, a rookie, is cleared of the charges she won't be returning to Austin anyway because she was defeated in the March 2 primary. And Hodge, a 13-year-veteran, resigned before the primary in a plea bargain for a lighter sentence.

In all, last week's and this week's developments prove, once again, that in politics what goes around comes around.