There’s an old saying among ranchers that big hats don’t always mean the man wearing it has an appreciable herd of cattle. That’s what we have in the Alabama House of Representatives when it comes to ethics reform—a lot of Legislators talk publicly about how we need it, but they have no intention of ever voting for it.
I sponsored a bill this session to give the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power to question witnesses and examine records for their investigations of corrupt public officials. After all, Alabama is the only state in the nation without this authority, and the recent corruption convictions of two Alabama legislators coupled with the current climate of county and state corruption bolsters the argument that we need it. When the subpoena power bill came up for a vote in Committee in a room full of reporters with their steno pads in hand, the bill sailed out favorably with bi-partisan support. After that, the bill mysteriously disappeared and never made it to the floor for a full House vote because the powers that be did not want to see it pass.
Governor Riley hitched his ethics reform proposal to the wagon of Representative Mac Gipson (R-Prattville). One of the bills the Governor proposed was limiting what lobbyists can spend on legislative gifts and what they can spend on entertaining Legislators during a session. Once again, certain legislative leaders nodded in approval when the cameras were rolling, but relegated the Governor’s proposals to the ash heap of dead bills once the lights were dimmed.
It seems that some in Montgomery either don’t understand concerns about public corruption or they simply have no regard whatsoever of what their constituents care about. The daily revelations of public corruption across our state demonstrate the need to have ethics reform debated and discussed in public, not buried by legislative procedural tricks.
I believe the people are well served by the two-party political system in America and in Alabama. I am proud to be a Republican, but I have avoided making hyper-partisan statements during my tenure in the Alabama House of Representatives. It is time, however, to call out those who have stood in the way of passing meaningful ethics reform in Alabama. For 113 years, Democrats have controlled both houses of the Alabama Legislature, and in recent years they have governed with little or no regard for reforming the state’s ethics laws.
For those opposed to ethics reform, the days of wearing the ethics hat on top of a head of empty rhetoric are coming to a close, and the voters will have the final say. I will do my part to get the word out.
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   Sen. Steve French, Sen. Zeb Little, Rep. Ken Guin, and Rep. Cam Ward will be blogging here during the 2010 Legislative Session. Ethics Reform Dead But Not Forgotten Posted by Rep. Cam Ward, on May 14th, 2009, at 8:04 am5 comments to Ethics Reform Dead But Not Forgotten |
ChangeI wish my friend Hinton Mitchem godspeed and good luck after his retirement from public service. Hinton, on Monday, announced what many had suspected — he will not seek re-election. I remember meeting Hinton for the first time while I was a student at Auburn University. He served the people of his [...] Ten Minutes in the House, Senate Moves On Here is a quick preview of the upcoming week in Montgomery. This week will be a standard legislative schedule for the House. We will be in session on Tuesday and Thursday with committee meetings scheduled for Wednesday. Back in the Day... Tent City at Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, ca 1918 |
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Thank you Representative Ward for exposing the hypocrisy of the leaders of our legislature and telling it like it is. This sort of truthfulness is long overdue so I applaud you for speaking up.
Yesterday I emailed a letter to the editors of several Alabama newspapers, the text of which read as follows:
I’ve read editorials and letters to editors bemoaning the fact that our legislature, again, has failed to pass legislation such as ethics reform and a bill to allow voters to decide if we should have a constitutional convention.
I advocate a solution, but a concerted effort of editorialists and voters is required to make it work.
Alabama must have a constitutional Initiative and Referendum process voters can use to initiate legislation that would bypass both the legislature and the governor and be put on a ballot. Then we could do what our legislature refuses to do.
The legislature won’t pass such a constitutional amendment, which has been introduced by Representative Mike Ball, until there is such a great grassroots demand that it be passed that it causes a majority of legislators to fear losing all of their power at the polls in the 2010 elections if they don’t help pass it before then.
To accomplish that, I’d suggest voters early and often contact legislators that represent them and say, “You asked voters to trust you with their vote in 2006, and a majority of them did. Trust is a two-way street. Now I ask you to trust me and your other constituents by working to pass legislation to make Alabama the 25th Initiative and Referendum state. If you do, you will help make Alabama’s government one of, by, and for the people and build trust and respect for yourself and the Alabama legislature. If you don’t, I and every one of your constituents that I can influence will work to insure your defeat if you should seek re-election to your current office, or to any other office.”
Thanks for the work you do Cam and continue it please. Hopefully we can pick up some support across the State to exert the people’s will.
At BrokeSnake.com, we did some research and learned that Alabama ranks 49th in Campaign Finance Discloser,
http://snakepit.brokesnake.com/2009/05/11/so-where-are-our-ethics-reforms.aspx
It all starts there I believe, but our elected officials don’t seem to care.
Initiative and Referendum is a bad idea. Look at the financial situation of California as a result of the initiative process.
Common Sense, before you start comparing the Initiative process in California to that which is proposed in Representative Ball’s bill for Alabama, it would just be common sense to study Ball’s bill. The initiative process he proposes is a far cry from what California has.
God knows we really do need Ethics reform in the State of Alabama, especially here in Lowndes County. My organization has been advocating for reform now for over (9) years. Some of our elected officials will do anything for a mere dime.It seems as if nowadays people just don’t have any morals, values, scrupples and integrity.Its as if it all, has just disappeard and flown out of the window.