Hate crimes or political corruption. In which one is Alabama below the national average, and in which one is the state near the top in violations?
To the surprise of many, Alabama is near the bottom in the number and ratio of hate crimes. In an Oct. 26 briefing by the FBI’s Birmingham division, Special Agent Dana Gillis, who leads the civil rights division, said community leadership has transformed the state to the point that it has one of the lowest rates of hate crimes in the nation. Only two hate crime cases are open currently and one of those is several years old, he reported.
That same evening, the FBI did a presentation on political corruption highlighting the Jefferson County sewer case that resulted in convictions of both elected officials and county employees. Special agents also referenced other recent political corruption cases involving the mayor of Birmingham, the state’s two-year colleges and the alleged vote-buying scheme in the Legislature, resulting in the indictments of legislators, lobbyists and others related to the gambling industry.
In response to questions, the agents said Alabama ranks high in political corruption investigations. In both number and ratio of political corruption cases, the state is near the top.
Now Alabama has the opportunity to change its history of political corruption as dramatically as it has changed its history of hate crimes. The Nov. 2 election placed the power of state leadership in the hands of Republicans, who have talked about political reform and campaign transparency for years. Republicans will hold supermajorities in both the state House, with 62 of the 105 seats, and the state Senate, with 22 of the 35 seats, when the new Legislature convenes March 1. That means Republicans can pass whatever legislation they deem important and even override a governor’s veto.
But Robert Bentley, the new governor, is also a Republican and has made many of the same promises as the new legislators. That means cooperation should be high and both executive leadership and legislative leadership should be singing out of the same hymnbook, so to speak.
We hope the song they sing will be about the welfare of Alabama and not about the welfare of office holders or political party. After all, elected officials are chosen to care for the general welfare, not their personal welfare.
Caring for the general welfare should begin by reforming the state’s political system in several ways.
Why is it that the Alabama Ethics Commission is the only such commission in the nation without subpoena power? The commission cannot do thorough investigations of the many charges of misconduct by public officials because it lacks the power to subpoena related documents.
That is just one example of how the state has given lip service to the importance of ethics in government but acted in ways to protect those who ignore the high demands of ethical conduct.
Transfer of funds between political action committees (PAC) is another problem. It is almost impossible to trace funds as they are handed off between PACs with high-sounding names that are, in reality, nothing but facades to cover shameful behaviors. PAC-to-PAC transfers need to be banned. This would help bring transparency to the campaign system so that voters could know who is bankrolling which candidates and who is supporting what issues.
The Legislature desperately needs to reform its own rules. One needed improvement is that all final passage votes should be recorded votes. When legislators approved the last pay raise for themselves, they did it by a voice vote. There is no recorded vote to prove which state senator or representative voted for the raise and which one voted against it.
For protecting themselves and hiding behind ambiguities and confusion, voice votes may be helpful to legislators but they do not aid the cause of good government. That is why Alabama stands almost alone in allowing voice votes for the final passage of any legislative proposal.
The new Legislature and governor need to work together to address major problems in the state’s infrastructure. A legislative research committee recently reported that the Education Trust Fund will buy about the same amount of services provided in 1950. That means Alabama schools have a serious problem.
The state’s General Fund budget is in trouble. Grants from the federal government got Alabama through this year, but those funds will have to be made up in the next fiscal year. That spells trouble for all state services.
Alabama has about a three-year deficit in its insurance and retirement programs for state workers and the deficit is growing. Financial issues that put Greece, Portugal and California on the front pages of newspapers worldwide are cropping up here and must be faced.
This is no time for special interest legislation such as expanding legalized gambling, which more than once has brought the state legislative process to a grinding halt.
In years past, legislative leadership assigned gambling, alcohol and other such issues to the House Tourism and Travel Committee and the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee. The committees were stacked so that bills always sailed through. Now that process should stop and special interest concerns should give way to concern about the general welfare of the state.
None of these issues is new. The need for reform has been documented many times, and barrels of ink have been used campaigning for change. Over the years, many Democrats have supported honest efforts to reform the governing process and bring transparency to political campaigns. Unfortunately the power of leadership — executive and legislative — could never be combined to result in meaningful reform.
The last time the same party had the governor’s chair and supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, leaders used it to try to establish a lottery instead of working on basic problems in the way the state governs itself.
This is a critical moment in Alabama’s history. Citizens want to change the history of political corruption. And we can change. We have proven that. Now it is time for the state Legislature to take the first steps in changing our history and leading us toward honest government and transparent campaigns focused on the general welfare of Alabama.
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