The language in Gov. Nathan Deal’s order is crystal clear on how the state bureaucracy is supposed to handle lobbyists. But it’s less so on whom it covers.
Along with banning gifts, the order instructs state workers that it is not “required or preferred” that they work directly with lobbyists and orders them to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
“State employees ... should not accept benefits of any sort under circumstances in which it could be inferred by a reasonable observer that the benefit was intended to influence a pending or future decision or to reward a past decision,” the order says.
After The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provided the governor’s office with several examples of executive branch officials accepting gifts from lobbyists, Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said the governor is serious about the order and has made sure his department heads know it.
“The governor has reiterated to agency heads the importance and the meaning of the executive order,” he said. “He expects everyone to comply with the order. We’ve had, for the most part, strict adherence to the rules.”
Yet, there are a lot of important people in state government exempt from the order.
Ryan Teague, Deal’s executive counsel, took a look at the order and determined that most boards do not fall under the ban, but employees of the executive departments do. That reading means that the gift ban applies to a ranger in a state park, while the Department of Natural Resources board members can accept all the gifts, travel and free meals they want.
Teague said the governor’s office is reviewing the order. William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said boards should be included.
“It would seem a best practice them for them to not be getting a free lunch from companies which have a direct interest in the decisions they make,” he said.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes said he believes he was the first to ban lobbyists’ gifts in the executive branch by executive order. Sonny Perdue issued a similar order, and Deal followed suit. Meanwhile, members of the General Assembly — first under Democratic control and later under the GOP — declined to enact a gift ban for themselves.
Barnes, who lost to Deal in a 2010 bid to regain the office, said his original order was an attempt to protect the integrity of state government.
“This idea that you can just rain gifts on legislators or anyone else and it does not have an effect is just contrary to common sense,” he said. “You cannot allow lobbyists for special interests to run the government.”
It is unclear how well state officials abided by those orders. A check of records for 2010 — Perdue’s last year in office —found numerous lobbyist gifts received by executive branch officials.
One record shows AMB Group, the parent company of the Atlanta Falcons, provided a $197 ticket to the Nov. 11, 2010, game against the Baltimore Ravens to a very high-ranking state official: Gov. Sonny Perdue.
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