From Sine Die, a look at how ethics gets squeezed out of the sausage
Around 6 p.m. Thursday, the final day of this year’s legislative session, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle had to make a phone call.
He wasn’t phoning the speaker of the House so they could gavel the session adjourned, sine die. Rather, Cagle was asking his chief legal counsel about an amendment to a bill.
I know, I know: Government-jargon-blah-blah-blah alerts are sounding all across metro Atlanta right about now. But this story isn’t about Gold Dome process. It’s about money, power and how the two intersect in ways that can be hard to see.
For a seasoned presiding officer who wastes little time assigning bills to committees and making various other rulings from the rostrum, Cagle’s pause was unusual. Then again, the amendment was unusually delicate: Sen. Jason Carter, an Atlanta Democrat, was proposing a $100 limit on lobbyist gifts to legislators. It was the same limit proposed by Republicans and — until then — snuffed out by higher-ranking Republicans in both the Senate and the House this year.
Cagle hung up, brought the Senate to order, and spoke.
He personally, he said, had voted before for gift caps, and he would allow the amendment if he could. But he was advised that, legally, he could not deem the amendment germane to the underlying bill because it dealt with a different section of state elections law.
Cagle’s decision probably was the prudent thing to do, legally. Even some proponents of the gift limit acknowledged it’s not necessarily a good precedent to lump two issues that different into one bill.
Four hours later, though, some legislators dispensed with that restraint. But not to pass a gift limit. Oh, no.
Instead, senators voted 46-4 to approve a bill, HB 875, about hunting and fishing licenses. The final version of the bill just happened to include an amendment allowing some rulings by the state ethics commission to be sealed from public view.
Carter’s amendment and the underlying bill both fell under Title 21 (Elections) of the state code, but the amendment was deemed out of bounds.
Now, follow me if you can: HB 875 began in Title 27 (Game and Fish), looped in part of Title 52 (Waters of the State, Ports, and Watercraft), at one point stood to tack on another amendment concerning Title 50 (State Government), and eventually circled all the way back to — irony alert — Title 21 (Elections), to add that part about sealed records.
To be fair, I guess, all those various portions of HB 875 did relate to withholding information from the public.
In the end, House members caught on to the attempt to use HB 875 to take some of the transparency out of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (the agency formerly known as the State Ethics Commission). They voted it down, 143-25.
But if you’re wondering how these two situations could unfold so differently, you haven’t been paying attention. Everyone at the Capitol is for ethics and good governance, until they aren’t. So, as I heard in recent weeks from multiple people, the House can try to restore rule-making authority to the ethics commission, only to be blocked by the Senate, and the Senate can desire to study a gift limit and other potential reforms but get a cold reception in the House for the idea. The only result is neither gets done.
A ray of hope: Cagle could follow his stated interest in a gift cap by appointing a committee to study the concept and propose a bill next year. Unlike some others, he at least seems to understand it’s good politics.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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120 comments Add your comment
Wade Hampton
April 2nd, 2012
9:02 am
For what it is worth, I have lived in 4 different countries.
During the time spent in these countries……not ONCE did I have to show ID to buy booze or cigarettes AND buy it on any day or time, go through a license check, wear helmets on motorcycles, get pulled over by the local cops/tax collectors for not wearing a seat belt, …and……..I smoked freely whereever and whenever I wanted.(showing courtesy of course to those that might not like smoke).
.
Now repeat after me………
.
USA..USA..Land of the Free…Land of the Free.
clyde
April 2nd, 2012
9:15 am
I notice that the Governor of Maine is proposing legislation to do away with some pesky provisions to the Freedom of Information Act pertaining only to the Governor’s Office.Maine is only a few steps removed from Georgia,ethics wise.The Maine Governor is a Republican.you know.
clyde
April 2nd, 2012
9:19 am
Dear Wade,
The current smoking laws are a result of people showing no courtesy to the non-smoking public.I consider the laws some of the best ever enacted.
Steve
April 2nd, 2012
9:27 am
You idiots keep voting in these right wing corrupt clowns. Lay in the bed you’ve made stop whining.
(Georgia – #1 corrupt state)
MarkV
April 2nd, 2012
9:40 am
The point of my exchange with Dusty was not to denigrate the US, but to show two things. One, that a comparison of countries in most subjects is a precarious task, which most people do out of ignorance, not knowledge. Two, that if chauvinists like Dusty think that their assertions are patriotic, the opposite is true. People loving a country should recognize her weaknesses, because only then we can find ways to make her better, rather than pretending that those weaknesses do not exist.
The one thing Dusty could find solace in is that she is in a good company. When I watch or hear President Obama’s now famous quote about his story (election to the highest office in the country) being possible only in this country, I would like to ask him: “And how do you know that, Mr. President? Why do you feel the need to insult other countries?”
Glass House Rocker
April 2nd, 2012
9:59 am
Some of these “gifts” are reportedly amount to several thousand dollars. Are all they subject to income tax?
Nicole
April 2nd, 2012
10:49 am
How can there be any ethics in the gold dome when the person in charge of the state was run out of Washington as a results of an ETHICS investigation? And you expect there to be ethical people in charge of this state? You are sadly mistaken, but what is funny is the same unethical people of this state voted to put the unethical man in charge! Isn’t that a kick in the head!!!!
Ivan Cohen
April 2nd, 2012
11:03 am
Truth be told, they either were out to lunch or just cut the classes which were given on ethics. It has been shown time and time again on a national, state or local level, that legislators have an achilles heel. One can chalk it up as an “occupational hazard”.
UGA 1999
April 2nd, 2012
11:21 am
Steve….You mean like Obama?
Finn McCool
April 2nd, 2012
12:07 pm
test
Finn McCool
April 2nd, 2012
12:08 pm
From HBO’s new series called Newsroom:
“I’m a registered Republican,” he says. “I only seem liberal because I believe hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure and not gay marriage.”
Just saying..
April 2nd, 2012
12:34 pm
Linda: “wonder why the EPA is going after greenhouse gas emissions (breath) that cause greenhouse plants to thrive.”
Uh…..Uh…..Uh…..
Linda, you have many fans eager to read your posts.
Linda
April 2nd, 2012
12:48 pm
Just@12:34, There are 3 types of global warming/climate change/climate weirdness believers:
the still dos,
the never dids, &
the dids but don’ts any more.
Where are you?
UGA 1999
April 2nd, 2012
12:56 pm
Is it global warming or climate change? Are we warming or cooling down? Better ask Al Gore.
Linda
April 2nd, 2012
1:06 pm
UGA@12:56, You omitted global cooling from the ’70s.
There’s one more type of global weirdness believers:
the don’ts but say they dos.
Those are the worst ones. They are smart, but liars & users. They include Gore & Obama.
UGA 1999
April 2nd, 2012
1:31 pm
Linda….AMEN
AmVet
April 2nd, 2012
3:08 pm
Is it global warming or climate change? Are we warming or cooling down? Better ask Al Gore.
Incredible.
This dunderheaded claptrap AGAIN?!
How many years are you empirically averse nitiwits going to remain behind the rest of an enlightened planet?
From a 2006 article from that start up junk science magazine with no history of scientific discovery, excellence and impeccable reputation, National Geographic.
Scientists often use the term “climate change” instead of global warming. This is because as the Earth’s average temperature climbs, winds and ocean currents move heat around the globe in ways that can cool some areas, warm others, and change the amount of rain and snow falling. As a result, the climate changes differently in different areas.
Just saying..
April 2nd, 2012
4:19 pm
Linda-
I’m in the greenhouse. Being nourished.
The Ghost of Lester Maddox
April 3rd, 2012
9:10 am
Enter your comments here
The Ghost of Lester Maddox
April 3rd, 2012
9:11 am
Hell, if I had my way, any relative of “Jimmuh” Carter would not be ruled germane for any public policy position, least of all a spot in the legislature.