Give ethics subpoena power

Tuesdayy, November 10, 2009
Huntsville Times

For too long, the Alabama Ethics Commission has had to limp along with no real power to investigate public corruption.

It can look into ethics complaints against public officials, but only upon a signed formal complaint and with the voluntary cooperation of subjects.

If a probe suggests wrongdoing, the commission can fine the individual or refer the case to the state attorney general or the district attorney of the county where the offense occurred, which in most cases is where the targeted official lives.

A story Sunday by the Mobile Press-Register reported that Alabama is one of only three states that gives no subpoena power to its ethics commission. North Carolina and Michigan are the others, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Without the authority to subpoena witnesses and records like bank, cell phone and work-log documents, the Alabama Ethics Commission is very limited in the thoroughness of its probes.

Lack of subpoena power is not for lack of trying. Efforts have been made for years to grant the state Ethics Commission such power.

The Legislature has never seen fit to extend subpoena power to the commission. That's hypocritical given that the Legislature has granted itself subpoena authority through committees like the Legislature's joint Contract Review Committee.

With the 2010 state elections approaching, ethics seems to be a big buzz word among candidates.

Gov. Bob Riley plans to continue ethics reform bills he's pushed with no success since 2003. The proposals include new disclosure requirements and restrictions on gifts from lobbyists to elected officials, subpoena power for the Ethics Commission, a ban on transfers of campaign cash that disguise the money's source, and other ethics initiatives.

Some ethics measures now being promoted date to the early 1990s when ethics reform mania was rampant in Montgomery. Then-Gov. Guy Hunt, Alabama's first Republican governor since Reconstruction, had just been booted from office in 1993 on ethics charges he converted inaugural money for personal use.

Some reforms got passed, giving fodder to legislators to brag about in their 1994 campaigns. Other meaningful reforms were killed, including the subpoena provision and a revolutionary budget change that would have tied the Ethics Commission's funding to a set formula rather than an appropriation determined annually by the legislators who could become subjects of ethics investigations.

State Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, has sponsored subpoena bills in recent years and said he plans to do so again in 2010.

Ethics reform backers will have to carefully watch their backs if the subpoena bill gains momentum. Some lawmakers are masterful at dressing a wolf in sheep's clothing. For example, when post-Guy-Hunt ethics reforms banned lawmakers from using campaign funds for personal use, lawmakers loosened the allowance of what campaign funds could be used for. That in turn freed state-provided expense money to be pocketed as income, effectively giving a pay raise to lawmakers who can now pay living, office and travel expenses from lobbyist-fed campaign coffers.

If 47 states think it proper to give their ethics commissions subpoena authority, surely Alabama should. Let's hope 2010 will be the year of true ethics reforms.

By John Peck, for the editorial board. E-mail: john.peck@times.com