One of Alabama’s most widely read editorial voices recently wrote, "Given its recent history, there is little reason to think the Legislature will act in the state’s best interests this year. On the other hand, there is every reason to think its members will act on behalf of partisan or self interests."
The catalyst for those scolding words was the pay raise legislators approved for themselves early in the current session despite 80 percent opposition from Alabama citizens. The writer went on to observe that despite pledges of support for bills to report money spent in lobbying, to stop PAC-to-PAC transfers and to make other ethics reforms, there are few signs of progress on any of these fronts.
Complaints about the ethics of Alabama’s Legislature are not new. A series of studies by the Center for Government at Auburn University Montgomery found that more than half the citizens of Alabama distrust the Legislature to appropriately handle state funds. Forty-two percent of state citizens believe the Legislature does a poor or very poor job of managing state money with only 16 percent rating the Legislature’s management as excellent or good.
Twenty-seven percent of Alabama citizens make reduction of waste a top priority of state government before trust and confidence in state leaders can be restored.
Almost four years ago when Alabama voters defeated a major tax reform, one of the most cited reasons for opposition was the lack of confidence in the state Legislature to appropriate funds according to the announced plans for the new money.
Little has changed since then. Alabama voters are still calling for legislative reform. A survey of public attitudes regarding ethics and accountability issues by Samford University professor Randolph Horn found 90 percent of Alabamians believe lobbyists should report all spending on legislators. Currently lobbyists can spend up to $250 a day on a legislator and make no report. Nearly as many believe lobbying rules should apply to the executive branch of state government as well as to the Legislature (85 percent).
Alabamians want ethics committees to oversee the conduct of elected officials (61 percent), elected officials to be required to receive ethics training (86 percent), to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers of funds (83 percent) and to include all special projects, sometimes called pass-through pork, as line items in the state budget rather than a slush fund for legislators (84 percent).
Alabamians are concerned about conflict of interests in the state Legislature. Eighty percent of responders said it is "very important" that legislators not personally gain from their service in the Legislature, other than their pay as a legislator. Six out of 10 state residents said state legislators should not be allowed to hold other state jobs.
Despite the overwhelming support for more accountability and ethics in state government, little progress is being made in Montgomery. A couple of "show horse" bills have passed the House of Representatives with the clear expectation that nothing will get done in the state Senate. That has been the pattern of past years and it continues.
And while the Legislature continues to play games with the Alabama public, the self-serving continues to the point that editorials declare "there is little reason to think the Legislature will act in the state’s best interests this year. On the other hand, there is every reason to think its members will act on behalf of partisan or self interests."
That is tragic.
During its 2006 annual meeting, messengers to the Alabama Baptist State Convention adopted a resolution titled On Ethics in Government. The resolution referenced incidents of public officials benefiting privately from their positions of trust and responsibility. It noted cases of conflict of interest, of inappropriate use of position and more.
The messengers noted that the Bible teaches that "righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Prov. 14:34).
The resolution said, "[w]e, the messengers, express our sincere conviction that it is a conflict of interest for any public official to exercise authority or power over public policy for the purpose of personal and/or private gain."
The resolution further called on all branches of state government "to ensure that officials cannot and do not use the positions and powers entrusted to them by the public for personal and/or private gain."
Messengers to the state convention committed themselves to pray that Alabama public officials "will lead with righteousness and justice recognizing the responsibility placed on them by the citizens of this state and by God Almighty."
The Bible teaches that God created government for the good of society and that government officials are to act righteously and to detest wrongdoing. Surely the laws of Alabama should help public officials in their pursuit of good government. The time is far past when the popular reforms outlined above should be adopted and put in place by the state Legislature.
Alabama deserves good and godly government.
As Baptists, we will continue to pray for and work for government that "acts righteously and detests wrongdoing." We can do no less.
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