House deserves praise for giving state ethics panel additional power

Opinion

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February 6, 2010

Anonymous The News Courier Sat Feb 06, 2010, 05:43 PM CST

By The Associated Press

A recent editorial from an Alabama newspaper:

The Birmingham News on state ethics legislation:

A round of applause is in order for the Alabama House of Representatives, which passed a bill last week to give the state Ethics Commission the power to issue subpoenas.

This long-sought power has never gotten a favorable hearing in the House before. That it did this year is an indication lawmakers may actually understand voters’ disgust with a nasty rash of corruption in recent years involving all levels of government.

The House’s 93-1 vote shifts the burden to the state Senate. Do senators also recognize Alabamians are sick of county commissioners taking payoffs, two-year college officials getting kickbacks and state lawmakers landing in no-work government jobs?

Let’s hope so, and let’s hope they waste no time signing off on the bill, too.

It’s worth noting that almost all of Alabama’s recent public corruption prosecutions were brought by federal authorities, and none was launched by the Ethics Commission. We’d argue that is at least partly a reflection of the way lawmakers have historically held back the agency.

Giving the Ethics Commission subpoena power won’t guarantee the state agency will suddenly start ginning up felony cases. What it should help ensure is the Ethics Commission won’t miss violations of the law because it doesn’t have the tools it needs to investigate complaints about public officials and government employees.

That would be good news for taxpayers.

No wonder the House Republican leader, Mike Hubbard, complained about Democrats getting the credit. Hubbard pointed out that state Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, has sponsored similar bills before, but the bill from Rep. Alvin Holmes, a Democrat, was the one that got voted on. “They stole our bill,” Hubbard complained.

So what? The important thing isn’t who gets the credit, but that the right measures are taken to empower the Ethics Commission.

If the Senate also approves the measure, the Ethics Commission would finally be on level ground with a number of other state regulatory boards and with most other states’ ethics watchdog agencies that already have subpoena power.

To be sure, Holmes’ subpoena bill does not give the Ethics Commission a blank check. The commission could not use its newfound power in the earliest stages of investigations — which, we guess, is designed to limit fishing expeditions. In addition, four of the commission’s five members along with the agency’s director would have to say OK before any subpoenas would be issued.

Still, that is better than the subpoena power the commission now has, which is none at all.

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