NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It's the committee in the Legislature that's supposed to draw the line between what's right and wrong for lawmakers in the House.

But those same lawmakers have come under fire for some of the controversial decisions that they've made in the past.

Reps. Ulysses Jones, Lois DeBerry and Joe McCord are three of 12 members of the legislative Ethics Committee. This group writes the rules on ethical standards for the Tennessee House of Representatives.

But if their names sound familiar, it's because questions about their own ethics have made news before.

"I think all these members have proven that they are not excited about and are not willing to enforce ethics in this state," said Rep. Brian Kelsey of Germantown.

Jones is the current chairman of the House Ethics Committee. In 2005, he was one of the representatives approached by undercover agents in operation Tennessee Waltz, the federal sting to catch corrupt lawmakers.

Jones was never charged in that sting, but he admitted he'd accepted $1,000 from an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a lobbyist for a bogus company.

For Kelsey -- an outspoken critic of the committee -- that kind of gaffe should keep Jones from even sitting on the panel.

"Rep. Jones absolutely should not be the chairman of this committee," said Kelsey.

Jones said nothing should preclude him from being on the committee.

"Like I said, the money was given to me as a contribution. I reported it as contribution. I did what I was supposed to do," said Jones. "If they've got a problem, then they just have a problem."

DeBerry also took money from an undercover agent in Tennessee Waltz: $200 during a gambling trip.

"I hope this one incident, one lapse in judgment will not overshadow 33 years of service," she had said.

DeBerry was never charged, but Kelsey filed an ethics complaint against her.

"That ethics complaint was swept under the rug. And now she's a member of the Ethics Committee," said Kelsey. "It's absurd."

Last year, the Channel 4 I-Team reported that DeBerry's trips to Germany, Lithuania and China were paid for by a nonprofit that gets its money from corporate donors.

"I don't think it's wrong," DeBerry said. "And if it had been, you know, someone would have brought it to my attention."

DeBerry wasn't there this week when the Ethics Committee met and didn't return repeated requests for comment, but McCord had plenty to say at the time of Tennessee Waltz about whether DeBerry should be investigated for an ethics violation.

"I would like to move that there is probable cause," he had said.

Last year, the Channel 4 I-Team reported that McCord violated a law he helped pass.

State workers were forced to smoke outside after McCord helped pass a law banning smoking in state buildings.

But the I-Team found McCord had a space inside his conference room where his pals could smoke and not get caught, complete with an air-purification system.

McCord didn't want to talk to Channel 4 about it at the time but did speak outside the Ethics Committee hearing this week.

"I didn't solicit to be on the Ethics Committee," said McCord. "I was appointed to that. I got elected to serve, and that's part of my job."

Ultimately, the state Department Of Labor disciplined McCord.

DeBerry, Jones and three other members of the Ethics Committee also caught some flack for a trip they took to New Orleans last year. They used taxpayer funding to go a conference at the same time state employees were ordered by the governor not to travel to conferences due to budget cuts.

Twenty-six lawmakers in all went; five were from the Ethics Committee.

"This is totally absurd, and it's a mockery of ethics," Kelsey said.

"One would think the most ethical of people should be on this committee. Is that right?" asked Channel 4 reporter Jeremy Finley.

"I would agree with that," said Speaker of the House Kent Williams.

Williams has the final say about who gets on the Ethics Committee out of the 99 lawmakers in the General Assembly. He said he is aware of the criticism of some of the legislators on the committee.

"I think we could have selected 99 people," said Williams. "We have 99 people who qualify for that committee, because I think everybody is ethically correct and just good people."

Williams also said 90 percent of who gets on the committee is based on leadership recommendations. But, he said, the final decision is his.

Williams has reappointed Jason Mumpower to the ethics committee. Mumpower is the lawmaker who wrote the 2007 memo that detailed the sexual harassment complaint against the House speaker.