Ethics legislation: Limit dollar distractions

By AJC Editorial Board

“Whether or not a public official can be swayed by a gift is debatable, but that hasn’t prevented a rash of state laws addressing the topic.

Most states place restrictions on the gifts that legislators can receive and lobbyists can give.”

— The National Conference of State Legislatures.

It’s an old saying that locked doors do little more than keep honest people honest. That’s still an admirable goal, one that goes to the heart of why Georgia needs more-stringent ethics rules governing lawmakers and other key state officials.

Those carrying out the business of governance should be beyond reasonable reproach or suspicion that their actions are motivated by anything other than the common good. If that sounds naively idealistic, then so be it.

Admittedly, it’s unrealistic to expect that the throngs of red-badged lobbyists who pack Gold Dome hallways will thin out anytime soon. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hold our state’s top leaders to a higher bar. That requires strengthening current ethics laws. A bill containing a package of ethics reforms was unveiled last week and is expected to be introduced soon in the General Assembly. It deserves prompt consideration and passage without substantial revision.

That would be a great improvement from the prevailing view among lawmakers that merely disclosing the details of how lobbyists spend hundreds of thousands of dollars wining and dining them is sufficient. Implicit in that thinking is that the citizenry can decide just when they’ve had enough of the luxury trips and high-end meals used to gain the ear of lawmakers.

Disclosure, yes, is good. But it is not enough. Not when House Speaker David Ralston and family members are treated to a $17,000 junket to see Europe’s high-speed rail system. This in a state loath to fund any transportation option not involving asphalt.

Then there was Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s $5,000 trip to a golf tournament on St. Simons Island last October. His stay at the ritzy Cloister resort and a round of golf were paid for by lobbyists for a for-profit cancer hospital.

Both examples are perfectly legal, given the status quo. Common sense says that should change and implementing a $100 gift cap for lobbyists is a good place to start.

That’s what’s led a coalition of activists known as the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform to push for the gift cap and other substantial changes. Member organizations are the Georgia Tea Party Patriots, Georgia Watch, Common Cause Georgia and the League of Women Voters of Georgia. That this wide-ranging assemblage is united around this issue shows its broad interest across political aisles. That should make clear to legislators that they ignore such sentiment at their own risk.

If this message still isn’t clear to those public servants who are inclined to keep collecting no-limits free lunches and the like, then the results of a recent poll by the AJC and the Georgia Newspaper Partnership should give them pause. In our poll, 72 percent of the 625 registered Georgia voters surveyed supported “placing a limit or cap on the value of gifts” by lobbyists to state officials. Viewed along party lines, 82 percent of people identifying as Republicans and 61 percent of Democrats backed a gift cap.

If Georgia’s politicians won’t listen to a wide alliance pushing reform, perhaps they’ll heed the wishes of voters who’ll determine their future in office, or lack of same. It’s up to voters to make known their desire for change.

Andre Jackson, 
for the Editorial Board