Updated throughout: Bipartisan calls for reform after speaker’s saga
A bipartisan trio of 2010 statewide candidates is calling for a major overhaul of the state’s ethics laws in the wake of the Glenn Richardson scandal.
Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel, who is running for governor, and Democratic attorney general hopeful Rep. Rob Teilhet and Democratic secretary of state candidate Gary Horlacher have all said that Richardson’s coming resignation is not enough to clear the air under the Gold Dome.
All three believe complaints against legislators should be investigated by the State Ethics Commission and not fellow lawmakers, as is currently the case.
“Allowing the Legislature to police itself on ethics is like letting a criminal preside over his own court hearing,” Teilhet said. “We must address the underlying culture of corruption that has allowed self-dealing and conflicts of interest to run rampant at our Capitol.”
Richardson last week announced he would resign Jan. 1 in the wake of a scandal that again raised allegations that he once had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while also pushing legislation that would have benefited the utility. After Democrats filed an ethic complaint in 2007 over the rumored affair and its conflict of interest ramifications, a joint House-Senate ethics committee took no action on the complaint.
Teilhet, Handel and Horlacher want to remove that as a possibility in the future. His bill would give the State Ethics Commission jurisdiction over complaints of conflict of interest against members of the General Assembly. The Ethics Commission deals with similar complaints against most all other elected officials in the state, but lawmakers are supposed to police themselves.
Teilhet said his proposed bill includes many of the same principles that Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican proposed in 2005, but that were removed from an ethics bill that passed in the last hours of the 2005 session.
“Governor Sonny Perdue was right in 2005. But the House leadership gutted his legislation, and the result was an ethics bill with no teeth on conflict of interest,” Teilhet said.
Handel, too, wants to see legislators be subject to Georgia’s Open Records laws, which mandate the release of many records and correspondence. Nearly every other elected and governmental official in the state is subject to those sunshine rules, but lawmakers specifically exempted themselves from disclosure.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to take significant measures to end the culture of insider dealings, conflicts of interest and behavior that no one should be proud of but has been with us for decades,” Handel said Monday.
Horlacher said the state’s ethics in government laws have been diluted over the past several years and the State Ethics Commission had much of its power, and budget, stripped away.
“This is about restoring the integrity of our government,” Horlacher said in an op-ed column. “Ethics is one of the few issues where the polarizing rhetoric doesn’t stick.”
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12 comments Add your comment
Road Scholar
December 7th, 2009
8:57 am
Only if the head of the ethics committee is either picked by the same number of dems/repubs, or comes from an outside source like a judge. Being picked by the governor slants any outcomes.
RUKidding
December 7th, 2009
12:59 pm
Nice to see Handel’s leadership on this issue. She is a true leader, and just what Georgia needs right now. We don’t need folks like Deal, Real, Steal. John let me funnel some cash through Alabama Oxendine, Eric don’t do anything about it Johnson, Austin Glenn Richardson is my best friend Scott.
Bob
December 7th, 2009
1:19 pm
Has anyone else noticed that Aaron Gould Sheinin seems to cover Karen Handel favorably and often?
A Handel focus on ethics and the Legislature | Political Insider
December 7th, 2009
1:47 pm
[...] AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin, over at Gold Dome Live, points out two Democratic initiatives: Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna), a 2010 candidate for attorney [...]
Aaron Gould Sheinin
December 7th, 2009
2:40 pm
Bob, you’ve obviously missed the myriad stories I and my colleagues have done on the Department of Justice probe into her voter identification program. But glad to have you reading just the same.
Bob
December 7th, 2009
3:01 pm
Sure, the Department of Justice coverage was balanced, but I doubt that the state licensing boards make the paper if the SOS isn’t running for governor.
Aaron Gould Sheinin
December 7th, 2009
3:05 pm
Actually, it would have, which is why I didn’t mention in that story she was running for gov. I get nearly daily e-mails from the SOS office about those licensing boards and thought it was interesting to see what in the world they all do. No conspiracy there, promise.
Bob
December 7th, 2009
3:12 pm
uberVU - social comments
December 7th, 2009
3:30 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by AJCGeorgia: Richardson’s ouster not enuf; Teilhet calls for ethics reform, too http://bit.ly/7FMNwv…
Georgia Constituents
December 7th, 2009
4:05 pm
Interesting that only during a campaign year does anyone in the General Assembly finally state the facts that have been given to them by Georgia constitutents for some time now. I hope they remember that “actions speak much louder than just words.”
Our hope is that the new House Speaker Mark Burkhalter will follow the lead of House Judiciary Chairman Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) who – along with Bill Bozarth and Common Cause – are making a long overdue stand regarding the unethical influences of lobbyists with legislators.
Recent AJC excerpt: “Bill Bozarth’s group, Common Cause, has worked with House Judiciary Chairman Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) on a bill that would prohibit candidates from transferring more than $10,000 in an election cycle to other candidates, parties, campaign committees or PACs.”
The fact that Governor Perdue does not want to “bite the hand that feeds him” now and possibly in the future has been brought to many legislators’ attention for over a year – with no response. . Perdue constantly avoids asking for any accountability by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia in his responses to many emails sent to his office via the internet at “Contact the Governor” (one example of many is below).
Even Columnist Dick Yarbrough stated in the Marietta Daily Journal on August 29, 2009 that Perdue has been approached to become UGA President after his term (as Adams may be considered to become the new Chancellor).
The fact that Regent Leebern gave $25,000 to Perdue’s PAC fund (see AJC article below) is just one clear indicator (of many) of the BOR “lobbyists” having a strong influence on Perdue. Legislators have been fully informed by their constituents (including Senate Higher Education Chairman Seth Harp) – to no avail.
Columnist Bill Shipp (now retired) reported these unethical BOR practices in an article in 2003 and, still, legislators choose to look the other way.
We are simply asking for legislators to bring back accountability by the Board of Regents to someone other than themselves.
Take a moment to read Jim Wall’s recent article to see the results of what Perdue calls the Board of Regents’ “exclusive authority” to do what they want with your tax money and your foundation donations. And this is ethical? Link to full story:
http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2009/10/05/university-execs-deferred-pay-often-hidden-tops-7-million/
notsurprised
December 7th, 2009
4:10 pm
The current head of the ethics commission is a real bulldog attorney. His name is Tom Plank. I definitely wouldn’t want to be the subject of one of his investigations, but I would definitely like it if he was in charge of investigating these issues. I’ve talked to him before– he’s very serious but a nice guy.
The Snark
December 8th, 2009
4:48 pm
Anyone serious about ethics reform can prove it by making one simple proposal:
A law that provides for the head of the Ethics Commission to be chosen by majority vote of the Georgia Supreme Court, and to serve a five year term with removal only in the case of indictment. If you really want to make it watertight, stipulate that the budget of the Ethics Commission can only be reduced by a supermajority vote of both houses. That would eliminate the common practice of retaliating against an agency by gutting its budget.