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Alabama NewsAlabama Politics
New Laws Needed to Restore Public Trust in Alabama
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: February 11, 2008
Dark clouds hang over the state of Alabama as the Legislature goes into the 2008 session. Unfortunately for this drought-stricken state, these are not rain clouds; they are clouds of allegations of corruption, conflicts-of-interest and mismanagement.
Historically, Alabama has had her share of scandal among governing officials. With one former governor already in prison and dozens of state officials and their cronies either already convicted, indicted or about to be indicted, it seems abuse of the public trust has reached a new low in Alabama.
Based on media reports, federal investigations will hang over this entire legislative session as legislators await the outcome for themselves or their colleagues. In fact, Representative Sue Schmitz (D-Toney) has already received a nine-count indictment for allegedly taking more than $175,000 in pay from Alabama’s two-year college system for work she never performed. Others, including some legislators and State Board of Education members, await their fate as investigations continue.
These investigations began back in 2004 when law enforcement officials began looking into improprieties involving the management of the Fire College in Tuscaloosa. Since then, there has been a steady stream of reports of widespread corruption involving two-year college officials, private businesses, state legislators and now, even state school board members. The most prominent figure and to this point, the most important to the federal investigators, is Roy Johnson, the former chancellor of the two-year college system.
According to U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, Johnson agreed to plead guilty to 15 counts of bribery, conspiracy, obstruction, witness tampering and money laundering for which he faces a possible maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. At age 62, Johnson knows he could be in prison for the rest of his life.
In an effort to reduce his sentence and to protect his wife and children from federal prosecution, Johnson reportedly agreed to cooperate with federal investigators by providing information about his deals with legislators and state school board members. According to Martin, Johnson used his position as chancellor of the two-year colleges to provide jobs and contracts for relatives of state school board members, relatives of state legislators and in some cases, state legislators themselves.
With this plea agreement, the clouds over the State Legislature have gotten a lot darker and more ominous for some legislators as they anxiously await the next federal indictment.
For years, advocates of accountability and transparency in government and the Legislature have argued that it is a conflict-of-interest when state legislators and/or their spouses and children hold state jobs or state contracts. The current investigations validate the need for a change in state law to prohibit such arrangements, including a prohibition against any state legislator or their spouse holding any job or contract with any government entity.
In 2006, The Birmingham News published a series of investigative reports that brought public attention to the massive double-dipping and conflicts-of-interest that have plagued state government for years. The News reported that between 2002 and 2006 there were 43 members of the State Legislature with financial ties to the two-year college system. According to the News, some, including Rep. Schmitz, could not show legitimate justification for the pay they were receiving from the two-year colleges.
Investigative articles by The News and other state media helped expose how state legislators and other public officials used their positions to secure jobs or contracts for themselves and/or family members throughout Alabama’s two-year college system. It should also be noted that double-dipping and conflict-of-interest problems go well beyond the two-year colleges. The 43 legislators identified by The News were only those with ties to the two-year college system and did not include those with ties to the K – 12 public schools, four-year colleges and universities or other state and local government agencies.
Obviously, the time has come to end double-dipping, but ending that abuse is not enough. To bring real accountability and transparency to state government, the Legislature must pass laws to prohibit legislators from passing pork money to their districts in the form of discretionary funds that they control. Real accountability and transparency comes with a law that requires full disclosure by lobbyists of all expenditures on both elected and appointed officials.
And real accountability and real transparency requires banning all PAC-to-PAC transfers, including those to political parties, so that the people of Alabama can know who is funding the politicians’ campaigns.
If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it might be that the revelation of the rampant abuse of the public trust and the public treasury will result in a substantial change in state laws. Indictments and convictions are not the best way to restore trust in government. That will require a major commitment to laws that bring real accountability and real transparency. If the Alabama State Legislature had passed such laws years ago, the skies over Montgomery would be a lot clearer today.
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