Bill takes aim at rewarding Georgia legislators with state jobs

Two Republican lawmakers aren’t waiting for the start of the 2016 General Assembly session to pick a fight with the statehouse’s most powerful politicians.

State Rep. David Stover, R-Newnan, this week filed House Bill 723, which would prohibit lawmakers from being appointed by the governor to state jobs while they are serving in the General Assembly or within a year of leaving the General Assembly.

“It is time for the state of Georgia to bring real ethics back into the legislative process,” Stover said on his Facebook page. “The governor pays people back for carrying controversial bills — and for people’s voting records — by appointing them to state office.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, filed Senate Bill 256 to prohibit legislators who serve on conference committees — the panels of lawmakers who hammer out final versions of bills — from getting appointed or hired for a state job within two years of serving on a conference committee.

Governors have historically rewarded select legislators with employment, but Gov. Nathan Deal has been particularly active in creating a pipeline for lawmakers to move into good-paying, taxpayer-funded jobs.

“The governor has used the appointment system as a pretty big carrot, more than any other governor has,” said William Perry of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs. “It’s shocking how many people he has pulled from the Legislature after a big initiative.”

But longtime House Ethics Chairman Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, said the proposals are a bad idea.

“I don’t quite see the problem,” Wilkinson said. “When you’ve got talented people willing to be part of public service, you shouldn’t deny or delay them.”

After the 2015 session, Deal appointed state Rep. Mike Jacobs to be a judge on the DeKalb County State Court. He appointed state Sen. Ronald Ramsey Sr., D-Lithonia, to a newly created traffic court judgeship.

Only a few weeks after the session ended, Deal named House Majority Leader Larry O'Neal, R-Bonaire, to be the sole judge for the Georgia Tax Tribunal, a court program aimed at resolving disputes between taxpayers and the Georgia Department of Revenue. The state Judicial Nominating Commission had recommended three other lawyers for the post.

A few weeks later, Deal appointed state Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, as planning director of the Georgia Department of Transportation — essentially making him the governor's man in the otherwise independent agency. As chairman of the House Transportation Committee last session, Roberts was the lead sponsor on the $900 million-a-year transportation bill that Deal signed.

While the funding bill won overwhelming support in the General Assembly, opponents were upset both over the tax increases — including a new hotel/motel tax tacked on at the last minute — and the way the deal was struck behind closed doors. So Roberts’ appointment stung many critics of the bill.

Stover is part of a backbench, often anti-establishment group of Republicans who aren't afraid to pick fights with state leaders on a range of issues, from last-minute, special-interest tax breaks to ethics. A classic example came in the waning minutes of the 2015 session, when House and Senate leaders rushed through a tax break for Mercedes-Benz that Deal wanted. One of the group's members turned toward reporters and mouthed the words, "For shame."

McKoon, meanwhile, has made a name for himself — and enemies of many statehouse leaders and lobbyists — by consistently pushing ethics measures and changes in legislative procedures in hopes of adding more transparency to the system.

Picking a fight with a fairly popular governor in your own party is seldom a winning proposition, and Wilkinson doesn’t expect the bills to get far.