Did you catch the throwaway line in paragraph six of today’s editorial on lobbyists registered with the state?

But if the threat of stiffer fines can get the attention of the lobbying corps, one has to wonder what impact higher financial penalties might have on, say, those who violate open meetings or open records laws.

It seems to be a passive aggressive shot at Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone, who yesterday penned a guest editorial arguing (after the fact) for the creation a second judgeship for the Juvenile Court, and who recently admitted to having violated the open meetings law in the process.

Malone defended the vote, in part, by citing its “bipartisan” appeal — the support of a somewhat coerced Republican Commissioner Mike Carpenter helped provide cover for what otherwise would be seen clearly as a botched plan to rush through a political crony’s appointment.

Carpenter did his own explaining in the comments at the Smart City Memphis blog, as did Democratic Commissioner Steven Mulroy. But Carpenter is now taking a good deal of heat from his right flank, if posts by Republican maverick John Harvey and his comedian accomplice Tom Guleff are any indication.

Guleff’s posts, by the way, have only gotten funnier since his failed (though CA-endorsed) bid to represent Republicans in District 9 last August. His latest was picked up by reporter/blogger Blake Fontenay, who is absolutely on to something: “[I]magine how much more lively the summer’s candidate forums might have been in a three-way race with Cohen, Ford and Guleff.”

Though in Memphis, the jokes pretty much write themselves.