We appear to have reached the “double-dog dare” stage in the ongoing case of five political figures going unpunished after accepting cash and gifts without reporting them.

State Attorney General Kathleen Kane has refused to prosecute, claiming the case is seriously flawed because the confidential informant who recorded the four state representatives and a traffic court judge was unreliable and untrustworthy. Kane also suggested the appearance of racism. All five of the individuals, like Kane are Democrats. All five are black.

The attorney general’s refusal to prosecute met a hailstorm of criticism, most notably from Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who also happens to be a Democrat and Pennsylvania’s first black district attorney. The two attorneys and investigating agent who initiated the sting now work for Williams after leaving their jobs in the Attorney General’s office.

The case advanced to double-dog dare status last week, when Kane issued a challenge to Williams: If you want the case, you can have it.

In a carefully worded reply, Williams accepted the dare, but with two caveats:

First, that the case has been further tainted by controversy over Kane’s decisions, making it even harder to prosecute. “Up to this point you have been doing everything in your power to ensure that my office could never successfully bring charges,” Williams wrote to Kane.

Second, Williams demanded every scrap of evidence including internal correspondence about and since the investigation, which began in 2010.

Kane isn’t likely to turn over any communications that challenges her contention that it’s a weak case, or that her actions were not politically motivated.

The feud itself has deteriorated into schoolyard drama — the state’s two highest prosecutors in a no-holds-barred, high-stakes grudge match with tinges of racism and sexism. But the Williams-Kane spat should not take our eyes off the original issue: four state representatives took cash gifts and failed to report them — an unethical act by any standard — and they’ve gone unpunished.

Under current law, lawmakers must disclose cash and gifts with a value of more than $250. Last week, the state Senate unanimously passed a ban on all cash gifts. A similar bill is being prepared for the House.

The ban would make accepting a gift of less than $250 a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 or more. Gifts of $250 or more would be a felony.

The proposed ban does not include campaign contributions, which must be properly processed and reported.

The proposed ban is a good first step in the restoration of an ethical foundation under the Pennsylvania Legislature. It’s inconceivable that, under existing law, the crime was not the personal gain by four legislators accepting cash gifts, but rather, that they failed to report the gifts as income. It’s even more inconceivable that the Legislature has not done anything to censure their colleagues in any way.

In this day and age, cash-laden lobbyists seem omnipresent in the halls of government. That does not mean the rules of ethical conduct should accommodate them.

Nor will a ban on gifts completely deter moneyed interests in Harrisburg. Bad behavior doesn’t stop simply because it’s outlawed.

Ethical politicians — and we have to believe the vast majority or them are ethical — must stand and be counted. They must hold themselves, and each other, to a higher standard. And if they refuse, then it’s up to Pennsylvania’s voters to impose the standard for them.