A ruling last week that lobbyists need not disclose gifts to most state employees stunned open-government advocates and prompted calls for the Legislature to repair the damage in the three final days of its session this week.
But House Speaker David Ralston, who has described himself as a champion of ethics and transparency, says he’s not sure state law ever required those disclosures. He indicated that the Legislature may not be able to take up the matter in the time that remains, and he would not commit to revisiting it next year.
“We’re still having that discussion,” Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said when asked whether he would push to change state law to clearly say those lobbyists expenditures must be publicly disclosed. “And the reason we’re still having that discussion is I think you have to weigh everything in the balance and make the right call.”
The state ethics commission last week approved an advisory opinion that said lobbyists must report what they spend on elected officials’ family members, but not what they spend on staff. Free meals, free trips and other gifts to state employees amount to $200,000 in 2011, according to an ethics watchdog group, and, as of last week, taxpayers would have no way of knowing, going forward, who is spending money on state workers or why.
“Speaker Ralston just declared open season on lobbyist gifts to staffers,” said Debbie Dooley of the Georgia Tea Party Patriots, an influential group in Republican politics that has become increasingly active in calls for ethics reform. “I think if the Legislature, including the speaker of the House and the Senate, does not move on this and close the loophole, they will spend the next few months explaining to their constituents why they think it’s OK for their staff to accept lobbying gifts and the public not know about it. If they want it done, it can be done.”
Ralston and others said lobbyists never were required to disclose spending on staff, but that many voluntarily did so.
“I’m hoping that lobbyists, out of an abundance of caution, will voluntarily disclose their expenditures while we have that discussion going forward,” he said.
Ralston has maintained in his year-and-a-half in the job that open and quick disclosure of how lobbyists spend money to influence state policy is the best way to prevent corruption and ensure state law is being followed.
Douglas Chalmers, a lawyer representing the state Chamber of Commerce, asked for the opinion after stories appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regarding a lobbyist-funded trip that Ralston, his family and some staff took to Europe last year. The trip was included in a lobbyist’s disclosure report. The AJC also has revealed that a lobbying firm disclosed the hiring of Ralston’s son as an intern as a lobbyist expense.
Ralston earlier last week would not commit to fixing the loophole in the final days of this year’s legislative session.
“We’re looking at it,” Ralston said. “I have a couple of points about that. This ruling comes at kind of a tough time. We have three legislative days left, and that makes doing a sound fix challenging because there is not a lot of time.”
Dooley’s Tea Party organization is one of several that have formed the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform, which also includes Common Cause Georgia, the League of Women Voters and Georgia Watch. The alliance on Friday urged lawmakers to act before they adjourn this week.
“We are taking steps back in transparency,” William Perry, Common Cause Georgia’s executive director, said. “It’s essential to fix these issues.”
While Ralston did not commit to pursuing a solution, Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, said he’s optimistic a solution will be found. McKoon, who supports many of the alliance’s ideas, said Friday that he has had discussions with Senate leaders to find an existing bill that can be amended to close the loophole.
“I think there is widespread agreement that all of these transactions be disclosed,” McKoon said. “It’s my sincere hope that we will see that addressed in the final three days. I’m encouraged by what I have heard that we are going to address it.”
McKoon said his colleagues understand “that it is very important we send the message that transparency in this process is paramount to all of us.”
The alliance analyzed lobbyist spending for this session and estimates that lobbyists have spent about $200,000 on state employees already this session.
For Ralston, the stakes are considerable. He won the speaker’s gavel in 2010 by promising a new era in the House, which had suffered through an ethics scandal involving former Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram. Richardson was accused of having an affair with a utility lobbyist while championing legislation to be benefit the company. He eventually resigned after attempting suicide and seeing his former wive give a tell-all interview to a local television station detailing the affair.
Since taking office, Ralston has pushed to make the House more open to the media and for increased debate on legislation. He also personally led the charge for an ethics reform bill last year that increased lobbyist disclosures during the legislative session and increased fines for those who lag in reporting.
Disclosure has been a key point for Ralston.
“Trust the people to make those judgments with the information they can get with the click of the mouse,” Ralston said in 2010, referring to the lobbyist spending reports posted online at the ethics commission’s website.
But now, if he does not act, those reports would not have to include how lobbyists wine and dine staff, who can have great influence on public policy.
Rick Thompson, the former head of the ethics commission, said the opinion is a blow to transparency.
“When I was at the commission, we always told everybody when they called up and said, ‘Do we have to report staff?’ And said, ‘Well of course,’” Thompson said. “We can’t imagine a time when you would take staff members of public officers out and not be trying to influence the public officer.”
Stefan Passantino, a lawyer with McKenna Long & Aldridge who specializes in ethics law, said he believes the Legislature’s intent has always been to require lobbyists to disclose spending on staff. But the law might be ambiguous, he said, and the commission does not have the ability to interpret the law.
“The problem is it’s just not the way the words read on the page,” he said.
Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, said he remains committed “to full, open, immediate disclosure.”
“I’m reviewing their opinion and trying to determine the best way to achieve my goal,” Wilkinson said. “I’m going to make sure that it’s done right.”
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