After 10 years of bringing up the same bill, one would think state Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, would just give up.

Voters in Alabama ought to be glad he hasn’t. And they ought to spring into action this time around, forcing their own representatives to vote up or down on this measure vital to transparency in campaign financing.

Over the past 10 years, McLaughlin has proposed banning transfers between Political Action Committees, known as PACs, which allows candidates to hide the source of their campaign contributions.

It is nothing more than money laundering of campaign funds, guaranteeing the recipient that if he or she is receiving money from controversial sources — like gambling interests -- the voter virtually would have to be an investigative reporter to trace the money trail.

And that’s what candidates who receive that money are banking on — that voters will not go to the trouble of tracking down the money.

In the meantime, lawmakers pay plenty of lip service to ethics reform, their desire to ban PAC to PAC transfers and restoring public trust. But each time, McLaughlin proposes his bill, those same lawmakers stand idly by while the ban dies in committee, never making it to the floor for a vote.

It is long past time to right this terrible wrong and force lawmakers to serve the public instead of themselves, and McLaughlin vows to try it again.

Let’s hope this time, he succeeds.