Published: January 24, 2010

Lawmakers tackle ethics reform, again

By Sebastian Kitchen
skitchen@gannett.com

Before the 2006 elections, Democrats promised to pass meaningful ethics reforms. This session is the last one in which they can fulfill that promise during their current terms.

Alabama lawmakers have talked for years about eliminating the transfer of money between political action committees, giving the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power and installing other accountability measures, but there has been little progress.

Several lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bob Riley will push for the reforms again this year, when all 140 seats in the Legislature are on the ballot.

And so far this session, some progress has been made.

The House of Representatives passed the bill banning the transfer of money between political action committees, which allows candidates to hide the source of their contributions. They also have passed a bill that would give the Ethics Commission subpoena power, which the commission and many lawmakers believe would give the body the "teeth" it needs to pursue ethical violations.

But the House regularly has passed the PAC-to-PAC transfer bill. It has been in the Senate that the bill has had problems.

Now, the state Senate will have the opportunity to address both bills.

House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, said he is more optimistic the Legislature will pass ethics reform this year with the election looming.

He said the Legislature will sometimes pass bills in election years that members are unwilling to pass in other years.

Jim Sumner, director of the Alabama Ethics Commission, said he is more optimistic about bills passing this year than last. He said some of the bills have moved much earlier this year while several died late in the session a year ago.

Successes

Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, D-Cullman, said lawmakers passed legislation putting the state's checkbook online and putting the governor's contingency fund and flight log online.

"I think we've done a great job ...," Little said. "Transparency and accountability is important."

Democrats, at least in the Senate, are focused on different ethics legislation this session. A committee passed, and Democrats expect to take up, bills limiting the use of no-bid contracts. The legislation would prohibit no-bid contracts of more than $7,500, although federal money that flows into the state has restrictions on what can go through the bid process and what cannot.

The Democrats obviously are targeting Riley in the wake of an amendment to a no-bid, $13 million computer consulting contract.

"Our No. 1 problem right now is no-bid contracts," Little said.

Democratic lawmakers, including Little, have used no-bid contracts for services, but have said those do not compare to the hundreds of millions used by the administration.

Republicans consider the push for a ban to be an election-year stunt by Democrats.

Little said the most pressing issue for people is jobs.

He said ethics "never comes up" when he is talking to his constituents, but said "nobody's against strong ethics laws."

He said there has been some mention of a desire for ethics reform following the publicity of corruption in Jefferson County, but that people do not ask about PAC-to-PAC transfers.

Little said Republicans have been obstructionists, and already burned two legislative days this session delaying and filibustering.

PAC ban

Banning PAC-to-PAC transfers was among the promises Democrats running for the Alabama Legislature made leading up to the 2006 election.

In the first 10 days of the next legislative session, they said, they would ensure a vote on a PAC ban, eliminating pork projects from the state budget, rolling back annual property appraisals, and requiring lobbyists to report all expenditures on public officials.

Republicans have criticized Democrats for having a record of broken promises on ethics reform.

The House has passed the PAC ban bill every year for almost a decade, but it usually dies without action in the Senate. The Senate passed a version two years ago, but many people said it created major loopholes. The House and Senate could not agree to a comprised version and it died.

Last year, a bill to eliminate the transfer of money between political action committees sat in a basket in the Senate for two months waiting to be assigned to a committee.

Little said the Democratic caucus supports a "true PAC-to-PAC ban," but there are always people, including business organizations and the political parties, that want exceptions.

Hammett is not as confident about passing a ban on PAC transfers because of the inaction of the Senate in previous years.

Hammett, who has called PAC transfers money laundering, has said people have a right to know who is funding candidates.

Subpoena power

Sumner said subpoena power is critically important to the Ethics Commission to be effective and to get the documents necessary to review cases.

He said the commission is "currently at the whims of people to give us the information."

Little said the commission can go to a district attorney or the attorney general and request a subpoena, but it hasn't.

"They can do it if they want to," he said.

Little said he does not support subpoena power for the commission because it is not law enforcement.

Hammett supports subpoena power. He wanted it in the last major ethics reform legislation that passed, which he sponsored in 1995, but there was opposition then.

Lawmakers from both sides teamed up to help get the subpoena power bill through the House.

Democratic Rep. Alvin Holmes of Montgomery and Republican Rep. Cam Ward of Alabaster had separate versions of the subpoena power legislation. They agreed to work together to ensure one got through.

"This is the best chance we have ever had to pass this bill," Ward said.

Ward said the bill would give the commission the ability to decide whether to pursue a case and either move forward or know that the allegations are baseless, clearing the cloud over the official's head.

Without it, the commission is a "paper tiger," he said.

"If the Ethics Commission has no power to investigate, then you really have no power at all," Ward said.

When asked about the outlook for ethics legislation, Ward said "it is going to be up to the Senate and whether they want to take it on," a sentiment echoed by several of his House colleagues.

With the climate nationally, Ward said he wouldn't want to block it.

Ethics overhauls

A House committee also passed, without discussion, a rewrite of portions of the ethics code sponsored by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, who has worked with Hammett and others on the bill, which Sumner said would give the commission a lot of the tools it needs.

Sumner said the passage out of committee so early is "quite significant."

The bill would require ethics training for public officials.

DeMarco said the public wants ethics reform, especially in the wake of the convictions of top officials in Birmingham.

He believes senators are hearing from their constituents as well.

"The public has said get down to the business of strengthening our ethics act," DeMarco said.

Strengthening the ethics act, he said, would give the public more confidence in government.

Hammett said the problem with bills such as DeMarco's is sometimes the other party offers amendments and tries to embarrass the other side.

He said there would have to be an agreement that nobody would offer damaging amendments on the House floor.

Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville, is again sponsoring a substantial overhaul of the ethics act. He hopes a committee and the full House will take it up earlier this year so it has an opportunity to pass.

Riley sent a letter to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Marcel Black, on Jan. 15 asking him to consider Gipson's ethics legislation.

"The Alabama Code of Public Ethics bill is extremely important to rebuilding the people's trust in government and their elected officials," the governor wrote.

"When it comes to attracting new jobs to the state, the integrity of state government can be a critical factor. That's another reason why elected officials must be accountable, the process of government policy-making must be transparent, and state government must operate 'above board' in every instance."