Survey rates Alabama Ethics Commission among weakest in the nation

Sunday, November 08, 2009
By GEORGE R. ALTMAN
Capital Bureau

MONTGOMERY — Alabama is one of only three states that gives no subpoena power to its ethics commission, according to a national survey.

The Alabama Ethics Commission cannot force people to appear before it or to turn over documents. "Right now, we are subject to people complying basically at will," explained Jim Sumner, commission director.

State ethics panels in North Carolina and Michigan are in the same predicament, according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Several Alabama lawmakers plan to offer bills in 2010 to give subpoena power to the Ethics Commission. Even supporters, however, are unsure of passage.

There's reluctance, said state Rep. Cam Ward, "to give power to an agency that would be in charge of ... investigating us."

Ward, R-Alabaster, has sponsored subpoena bills in recent years and said he plans to do so again. The Legislature's next regular session begins Jan. 12.

Although Alabama's Ethics Commission is among the country's weakest, 10 states have no ethics panels at all, according to the February 2008 survey.

Some of the strongest ethics commissions can be found in Alabama's neighbor states. Ethics agencies in Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi can both issue subpoenas and give orders that are enforceable in court.

Just 11 states entrust their ethics panels with both powers, according to the survey.

In Tennessee, "the Ethics Commission was created because of — I guess you could call it a scandal," said Drew Rawlins, that agency's executive director.

Operating in an undercover sting dubbed "Operation Tennessee Waltz," FBI agents created a fake computer recycling company and offered money to lawmakers to sponsor favorable bills. The lawmakers accepted, and the sting delivered five convictions involving bribery and extortion in 2005, according to Associated Press accounts.

In Alabama, investigations in recent times have led to the convictions of several elected officials, most recently Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, who was found guilty on 60 counts of bribery late last month.

State Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, holds up the Alabama verdicts as proof that state ethics law is strong, not weak.

"We've got one of the toughest ethics laws in the nation," he said. "Just look at all the people that have gone to jail under it."

Ward vehemently disagreed, saying that such convictions involved federal investigators and prosecutors relying on federal laws.

"None of these prosecutions that we've seen in the headlines have been as a result of the Alabama ethics laws," Ward said. Langford's case "is actually a good example of why we've got to make sure there's state statues in place."