Dozens of Georgians descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to adopt tougher ethics laws.
Representatives of a half dozen organizations -- collectively known as the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform -- continued to press for limits on the amount of money lobbyists can spend on elected officials and for a stronger state ethics commission.
Unlike the group's previous efforts, however, this time several state lawmakers joined it at a morning news conference.
Sen. Joshua McKoon, R-Columbus, who stopped short of endorsing the alliance's exact agenda, said "there's a disconnect between people we represent and this institution" that could be helped by stronger ethics rules.
He said he wants to "come up with a set of ethics laws that encourage complete openness and transparency for our state and local government. I want to work with [the alliance] to make sure citizens have confidence in elected officials again."
Sen. Jason Carter, D-Atlanta, echoed McKoon. "Our system of lobbying, our system of fundraising, our system that allows money to play such a big role in this process -- you're not seen as doing things for the right reasons all the time," he said.
Carter, too, did not commit to supporting the alliance's plans.
Rep. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, also spoke in support of the group's larger goal. House Judiciary Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, arrived as the news conference was ending. Willard has long championed much of what the alliance wants and said that hasn't changed.
He said he is trying to build consensus among Republicans for action.
Bob Irvin, chairman of Common Cause Georgia, one of the groups in the alliance, said work on proposed legislation could be completed in the next few days.
Other speakers included Julianne Thompson, state organizer of the Georgia Tea Party Patriots; William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia; Angela Speir Phelps, executive director of Georgia Watch; and Kaye Shipley of the Georgia League of Women Voters.
Speir Phelps, a former member of the Public Service Commission, said changes are needed to limit special interests' influence on legislators.
"Influence speaks far louder than the voices of average Georgians," she said. "It reverberates loudly."
Later, House Ethics Chairman Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, held to his consistent opinion that the state's ethics laws are already strong and were just recently made stronger. Last year, lawmakers adopted legislation that forces lobbyists to disclose what they spend on elected officials every two weeks while the General Assembly is meeting and increases fines for a wide swath of violations.
Those rules took effect in January.
"We're going to give it time to work," Wilkinson said. "If we need to make any improvements, we will."
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