February 11, 2006 Ethics Legislation at the State

A brief post on the state ethics legislation that passed this past Monday.

It is unfortunate that it takes a political crisis, such as the Tennessee Waltz indictments, to lead to legislation and efforts to restrain lawmakers from using their offices for personal gain.

That, however, appears to be the nature of politics at the present time. Get as much as you can for you and for your family before someone blows the whistle.

Having looked at summaries of the new ethics legislation, my feeling is that the new legislation is an improvement. And, let's face it, just about anything would have been an improvement. However, the laws regulating lobbying and conflicts of interest are still not strong enough.

My personal feeling is that special interest groups wield too much influence in Nashville. Too much influence is exerted by dollars, political contributions, and wining and dining instead of through open and public discussion and consideration in committee and legislative meetings.

The more that is disclosed about legislators, lobbyists, committee and legislative votes, the more open and responsive all legislators will be--both to groups and to individual constituents.

One of my primary concerns in government at all levels (local, state, national) is conflicts of interest. When someone takes office and then puts 3 or 4 or more family members on the government payroll, that official is starting down a slippery slope. Eventually, the situation gives the appearance of using one's office and the public trust for the financial benefit of one's family.

Of course, there is also a problem of conflicts of interest where family members serve in numerous elected or appointed positions.

This is a problem at the local level, and I have discussed conflicts on the county commission previously such as when School Board member Carolyn Spoone Holt comes to County Commission and requests that her brother Commissioner Joe Spoone provide funds for an International School for non-English speaking students.

Or when Paula Bruce Combs, an asst. principal and school system employee, sits in the audience at a County Commission meeting or watches the tape at home as her brother Commissioner Ricky Bruce votes on funding issues that will affect the amount of pay and benefits that Paula receives.

Or when Charlene Spoone, who works as a computer technician for the school system, sits at home with her county commission husband Joe Spoone, and school funding comes up.

Or when Witt principal Stan Harville sits in the audience at a commission meeting as his father Commissioner Herbert Harville votes on school funding that will affect both Stan's and his wife's pay and benefits.

Before anyone gets too upset at the mention of these names, let's remember that these are simply facts and the most well-known relationships. Having pointed out the facts and the relationships, this is not to say that Carolyn Spoone Holt shouldn't serve on the school board or that Joe Spoone shouldn't serve on county commission or that Charlene Spoone shouldn't be a school board employee.

Perhaps, however, Joe should abstain from the vote when school funding issues are presented.

Conflicts are found at the state level as well. There has been a lot of reporting recently about the Tennessee Highway Patrol. One report was about the "fixing" of a speeding ticket that had been given to Deputy Governor Dave Cooley. As the story began to unfold, it was reported that Melanie Cooley (Dave Cooley's wife) had recently served as executive assistant to the safety commissioner who is over the THP, but she was transferred to another government job after her husband's ticket scandal was reported.

Other reports have questioned whether conflicts of interest exist where Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh's wife works as a highly paid lobbyist trying to sway votes in the Tennessee legislature. She represents a lot of different companies and groups. Is there a legal conflict of interest in lobbying her own husband and trying to sway votes in the Legislature? Perhaps not. Is there a moral and ethical conflict of interest? In my opinion, there is.

An elected official occupies a position of public trust. Many officials find it extremely difficult to resist the temptation to use their office for financial gain for themselves and their family. And likewise family members of elected officials find it difficult to resist using the political connections of their relative to seek financial gain for themselves and their family.

We've all heard the statement that you can't legislate ethics and morality. However, you can enact laws that prohibit conflicts of interest and you can provide punishment for those who abuse the public trust and who use their offices for financial gain.

There are already a number of laws on the books in this regard. Additional prohibitions on conflicts of interest and abuse of offices of public trust would strengthen the standards that we set for elected and appointed officials.

Instead of trying to stay just within the bounds of the law, officials should strive to meet the highest ethical standards and should avoid even the appearance of ethical or moral impropriety.

At times, that might necessitate that one recuse himself or herself from voting where there is a potential conflict or the appearance of impropriety.