Ethical expectations in Georgia much too low
NOTE: This post includes material published on this blog earlier. It is posted here as the electronic version of today’s AJC column.
The implications of an internal memo written last week by Stacey Kalberman, the state’s top ethics-enforcement official, are potentially explosive.
“I do not believe it to be a coincidence that your increased concern with the budget coincides with my staff’s preparation and delivery to you for your signature the subpoenas related to the ongoing [Gov.] Nathan Deal investigation,” Kalberman wrote to commission chairman Patrick Millsaps. “As you know, these subpoenas have been reviewed and approved for legal sufficiency by the attorney general’s office. Your stated concern is that we do not have the budget for this investigation. However, the costs have already been paid. Staff time is built into the budget, and in my opinion we have sufficient resources going forward. In addition, the FBI has offered at no cost its forensic accountant to assist us.”
According to Kalberman, “the only impediment to this investigation would be my and my deputy’s dismissal.” And of course, that impediment is now in place. Kalberman’s deputy and chief investigator has been dismissed. Kalberman herself, faced with the loss of her only investigator and forced to swallow a 30 percent pay cut, was effectively forced out as well.
In most states, the fact that the state’s top ethics professional and her deputy were being fired, allegedly to shortcircuit an investigation of the governor, would be enough to rock the halls of the Capitol. But in Georgia these days, such things are more or less taken in stride, which in itself is an appalling indictment.
It’s true, of course, that Kalberman might be wrong. People facing the loss of a job have been known to jump to false conclusions. There’s also no doubt that the commission’s budget problems are real. These are tough times for any agency, and the ethics commission has suffered worse than most. Georgia politicians have used this budget crisis as an excuse to defang their supposed watchdog and have left it capable of no more than a good gumming.
In other words, even if the Deal investigation was short-circuited for budget reasons, it would not be accidental. It would instead be a case of Georgia politicians getting exactly the outcome they sought. They do not want an active, capable ethics commission, and they clearly do not have one.
Take last week’s meeting of the ethics commission, formally known as the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. It began more than 20 minutes late because the embattled Kalberman was in her office conferring privately with transparency commission member Kent Alexander, a former King and Spalding partner, former U.S. attorney and now general counsel at Emory University. Apparently, certain things had to be explained and arranged.
Once the public meeting finally began, the transparency commission voted immediately to go into executive session. All members of the media and public were escorted out.
An hour later, the transparency commission reconvened to make it official: Kalberman and her deputy, investigator Sherilyn Streicker, were both on the way out.
All members of the transparency commission lauded the excellent work done by Kalberman. A tight-faced Kalberman lauded the excellent work done by the transparency commission. Somewhere, faint strains of an off-key “Kumbaya” could be heard. Or maybe that part was just my imagination.
When the meeting ended, Kalberman retreated immediately into her office, closing the door behind her. Millsaps, who had participated by conference call, hung up. The three members of the transparency commission foolish enough to participate in person — Alexander, Josh Belinfante and Kevin Abernethy, fled while ducking questions about the status of the Deal investigation and subpoenas.
Transparency, Georgia style.
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11 comments Add your comment
kitty
June 21st, 2011
7:57 am
The good old boy network of Boss Hogg and Huey Long (yes, I am mixing fiction and non fiction) are alive and well in Georgia and no one seems to care. We get the government we deserve.
SoGaVet
June 21st, 2011
8:39 am
So will Common Cause or other media outlets, besides Jay Bookman take up the fight? We knew Deal was ethically challenged when he came into office – now he’s the fox in the hen house.
So the real question, as with so many issues in Georgia, is how to wake up the electorate?
Daedalus
June 21st, 2011
8:55 am
More of the status quo — we now expect our Governor to suppress open and transparent government and use his office to enrich himself and his friends.
Doesn’t anyone remember Oakey Woods or that Sonny left office with a few extra millions that he did not have when he started?
The democrats didn’t take ethics seriously when they ran the Gold Dome and the GOP is maintaining that tradition. Its sad.
And these people want us to trust them with additional sales taxes for transportation projects? Given the track record of the legislature and governor for diverting funds for other purposes (hello Solid Waste Trust Fund)they must think we are stupid. Unfortunately, they are probably right.
Joe Mama
June 21st, 2011
8:57 am
Governor Deal thought they said “ethnics commission,” so he cut their budget.
After all, all’a them thar ethnics are leavin’ tha state (and they didn’t even pick the produce first), so we don’t need no “ethnics commission’ n’more.
SOUTHERN ATL
June 21st, 2011
9:11 am
Daedalus @8:55 well said. No new ethics laws mean “no new taxes” no matter what the projects are!!!
Mighty Righty
June 21st, 2011
9:12 am
Joe Mama
June 21st, 2011
8:57 am
Governor Deal thought they said “ethnics commission,” so he cut their budget.
After all, all’a them thar ethnics are leavin’ tha state (and they didn’t even pick the produce first), so we don’t need no “ethnics commission’ n’more.
That’s funny. Glad you have a sense of humor.
I am still waiting for some one to tell me just what it is that Deal has done to cause all this hoopla. It’ clear the people who complain on these sheets don’t know. I think we need an investgative journalist like Jay to tell us what is or was being investigated. I mean really, if there is something going on, what is it?
captguitarman
June 21st, 2011
11:25 am
I recollect some similarly funny news footage of then candidate Deal sprinting for the door after a news conference in order to avoid awkward questions about what else . . . ethics . . . I mean, transparency. Changing “ethics” to “transparency” probably fooled most of the goobers who vote in Georgia, so I guess that’s why they did it. They must have gotten that ridiculous euphemism from Obama. This whole thing would be funny if it wasn’t so sad for Georgia, which, as noted above, does have the government(s) — city, county, and state — that it deserves. It is not exactly Texas around here. Back in the 80’s and 90’s Georgia competed with Texas, and Atlanta competed with Dallas and Houston, but those days are gone with Georgia and Atlanta long in decline and trying to catch up with lesser lights, Charlotte and Nashville. While What Me Worry? Sonny Perdue slept and vacationed and worked on his personal bank account, Texas progressed and prospered. Tough to accomplish being a part of the old New South, but they are pulling it off. Texas has been responsible for 40% of new jobs created since the Great Recession began, but according to some, unemployment will not be under control here until 2014, if even by then. Texas, once a bastion of good ol’ boys doin’ bidness, transcended that sink hole and now the state and three of its cities, Dallas, Houston, and Austin are rising stars and job growth leaders. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, xenophobia runs rampant, and the the Guv signs a law crippling the states’ biggest economic engine — farming — and the law may be found unconstitutional, but way too late to pick the rotted fruits and vegegables. The point here. The dearth of legislative ethics and an ethical culture allows Georgia pols, Dem or Pub, think of themselves first, and the special interests of the people who helped get them into office and who finance their legislative perqs and lifestyles. Beyond doing as they are instructed, there is not much vision out there. But Georgians won’t need much vision once all those grotesgue bill boards go up — just one small example. And it appears to be deeply ingrained. Four months into office, Deal’s appointee has overseen the gutting of the Ethics Commission. At every level of government, the most important party in Georgia is not the Republican party or Democratic party — it’s the Good Ol’ Boy party . . . party they do.
Granny Godzilla
June 21st, 2011
11:28 am
So is the AJC going to investigate further?
SoGaVet
June 21st, 2011
11:50 am
Mighty Righty
June 21st, 2011
9:12 am
“I am still waiting for some one to tell me just what it is that Deal has done to cause all this hoopla. It’ clear the people who complain on these sheets don’t know…I mean really, if there is something going on, what is it?”
According to the AP:
“The commission is investigating three complaints filed against Deal during last year’s campaign for governor.
One dealt with his use of campaign money to pay for legal fees related to a congressional ethics probe. Another dealt with his disclosure of aircraft use. The third concerned whether he accepted campaign contributions that exceeded state limits.”
Now as large a problem is possibly less the violation, more the effort to cover up.
Logical Dude
June 21st, 2011
12:53 pm
Well, it’s all “for the greater good” don’t you see?
If we get a black mark on the Governor, we get a black mark on the whole state! That would make us look bad!
We just sweep these things under the rug, block any questions that might cause discomfort, and hope that not too many people know about it. Because if too many people know about it, that’s BAD. and when I say BAD, that means it makes the state look bad.
And we just can’t have that, now can we?
Oh, you ask “But what is the right thing to do?” Well, I can’t get into ethics, now can I?
RF
June 21st, 2011
1:38 pm
Bottom line: those closest to Deal wanted this over, and now it’s over. They used the budget to disguise it, and succeeded. That’s how politics works in GA and most other states, like it or not. Deal is crooked, and it’s not secret. But we voted him in, so now we have what we have.