Riley proposing ethics changes

By By Bob Martin, The Alabama Scene
Recently, I wrote about how the first ethics legislation for Alabama was passed on a dare from the Senate to the House in 1973. Well, Gov. Bob Riley is now proposing significant revisions to that law, including a cap on what can be spent on perks for public officials such as food and drink. It is another dare…this time from the Executive Branch to the Legislative Branch.
What makes the governor’s proposal interesting is that it would prohibit all public officials, not just legislators, from accepting gifts costing more than $25 from lobbyists, contractors and other individuals interested in influencing government. He also wants to limit what can be spent on a public official’s meals to $50 per occasion and $200 per year.
Riley’s proposal would give subpoena power to the Alabama Ethics Commission and require the registration of persons who lobby the Executive Branch, contained in a Democratic-sponsored bill which he vetoed last year earning him significant criticism. Riley’s proposal would also require lobbyists to report everything they spend entertaining public officials and require the Ethics Commission to put the information on its Web site. But his $25 gift limit has one caveat…an exemption for free tickets to sporting and cultural events – such as football games – that are often handed out to public officials. Is that in the bill to protect State Rep. and GOP State Chair Mike Hubbard of Auburn, who controls well over 1,000 football seats at Jordan-Hare Stadium?
The governor’s overhaul joins several other ethics bills proposed by legislators of both parties. The House Judiciary Committee last week approved a bill by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood that would make it easier for the Ethics Commission to initiate investigations and require more detail on financial disclosure forms filed by public officials.
The committee had earlier approved a bill by Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, that would give subpoena power to the commission. A bill by Sen. Ted Little, D-Auburn, would expand the definition of a lobbyist to include people seeking to obtain a government contract on behalf of a third party.
The governor is leaving office in 2010 and many Democratic lawmakers believe he is trying to set up the opposition-party lawmakers who will continue in office. They point to Riley’s political use of his office, charging that he raised campaign funds from Mississippi casinos and other pay-for-play schemes such as providing state funds for the construction of a Huntsville research firm’s facility and then receiving hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars from three of the principles in the company…and now wanting to culminate his career as a champion of ethics.
Whatever Riley may have done in the past, I hope the dare works like it did in 1973. At the very least, the State Ethics Commission needs subpoena power.
Parties ought to provide ethics training
The conviction of State Rep. Sue Schmitz D-Toney has barely cooled on the newsprint, but four people have already expressed interest in replacing her at the State House. Schmitz, a 62-year-old grandmother, was convicted by a federal court jury in Decatur last week of eight counts of mail fraud and statutory fraud and faces the possibility of 100 years in prison. This was the second trial of Schmitz on the same issues, which arose out of a federal investigation into corruption in the state’s junior college system. Her first ended in a mistrial when the jury could not agree on a verdict. I certainly do not find joy in seeing Mrs. Schmitz spend the remainder of her life in prison and suggest that both political parties make a concerted effort to educate their legislators about the perils of serving. They get elected, waltz into the State House and are immediately surrounded by adoring lobbyists who shower them with meals, drink and perhaps other unmentionable perks, including cash. A lobbyist can legally spend up to $249.99 per day on a legislator and not have to report it to the Ethics Commission. It takes some longer than others, but soon they come to believe that all their desires will be attended to by a lobbyist. And believe me it is a bipartisan practice.
Many do the deal in a more subtle fashion. They are usually legitimate employees of corporate entities, who are paid handsome salaries to watch the backsides of their profession or business sector.
But those who troll on the public payrolls had better take note of what happened to Mrs. Schmidt, probably an unsuspecting school teacher who got entwined in the deadly politics of Montgomery. I was almost elected to the legislature in 1966. I thank the Lord quite frequently that I wasn’t.
Bob Martin is editor of The Montgomery Independent. E-mail him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com