June 15, 2005

Ethics Best Practices

As Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen mulls whether to call a special session of the legislature to address legislative/lobbyist ethics reform in the aftermath of the arrest of four sitting legislators for taking bribes from a lobbyist - and as the Bredesen adminstration asks the lobbyists to help write the new ethics rules - Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt has been doing a little research into how other states handle such things and has produced a set of four simple recommendations for ethics reform for the Tennessee legislature and the 500 or so lobbyists who seek to influence it each day.

1- Recording all floor and committee votes and immediately make them available on the internet so citizens can easily access them. The House Clerk won't even fax votes to citizens currently. This is absolutely ridiculous and is a slap in the face to every taxpayer. Here is an example of how they do it in Georgia. 2. Video streaming and archiving of all Senate and House sessions and committee sessions and most importantly, archive them ALL on the state web site so citizens and press can access them anytime that is convenient. Currently, only the House provides limited video streaming and the archives only include the latest three sessions. Here is an example of how they do it in Texas. 3. Make the open meetings and open records laws applicable to the General Assembly. It is unimaginably arrogant for the General Assembly to pass these laws and make them apply to every other area of state and local government EXCEPT the General Assembly. Here is information on state open records and open meetings laws. 4. Require FULL disclosure by those that employ lobbyists or spend money to influence legislation and completely outlaw contingency lobbying fees. Here is a link to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, an excellent example of an independent ethics commission monitoring lobbying and other activities. More can be done but these measures are long overdue and are the absolute minimum that should be passed BEFORE anything else is done.