In 1987, the General Assembly

changed the name of the "State Campaign and Financial Disclosure

Commission" to the "State Ethics Commission." It mightn't

have bothered; the former name much more accurately describes the Commission's

limited jurisdiction.

One might reasonably surmise

that a "State Ethics Commission" would have the power to investigate

conflicts of interest involving public officials, prescribe rules of ethical

conduct, and require disclosure of the significant financial interests

of public officials. Under existing law, however, the commission has no

such powers.

As part of the most sweeping

ethics reform proposals in the state's history, Governor Sonny Perdue

intends to change all that.

Currently, the commission remains

largely relegated to its pre-1987 role of overseeing the filing of various

campaign finance, lobbyist, and vendor disclosure forms. Even in these

areas, the commission's enforcement power remains weak: the appropriators

in the General Assembly have historically kept the commission on a starvation

budget so that it can only hire a few staff members to see to the compliance

of several thousand state and local officials. Indeed, prior to Gov. Perdue

taking office and insisting on an increase, the commission's budget was

a paltry $0.5 million, barely a rounding error in the state's $16 billion

budget.

The commission can only levy

a maximum fine of $1,000 per violation. In an era when the campaign budget

for a state senator can exceed $1 million, for a big-city mayor $3 million,

and for a governor $20 million, a maximum $1,000 fine for an ethics violation

can seem like merely the cost of doing business.

During my tenure as the lone

Republican appointee to the five-member commission, I was continually

frustrated by commission's lack of jurisdiction and enforcement power

over conflicts of interest and the ethical conduct of officials. Far too

often we were consigned to policing paperwork while egregious conduct

went uninvestigated and unpunished.

If a legislator failed to disclose

the complete address of a contributor on a form, we could require an amendment,

but if that same legislator used his position and influence to steer clients

to his private business, we were powerless to stop it. I became convinced

that only through sweeping legislative change could we bring true ethics

reform to the state.

In the last session of the

General Assembly, Gov. Perdue proposed legislation that would for the

first time have the State Ethics Commission's jurisdiction and enforcement

powers live up to its name. Under the governor's plan, the commission

will have sweeping authority to investigate conflicts of interest and

punish officials who use their public position for private gain.

The commission's ability to

levy fines will increase ten-fold, for a maximum fine of $10,000 per violation.

The commission will also gain the ability to require disclosure of the

significant financial interests of officials. The governor's plan will

also allow the commission to enforce a ban on gifts to public officials

from lobbyists and other exceeding $25 in value.

Although the state senate passed

Gov. Perdue's proposals unanimously, and despite widespread bipartisan

support, House Democrat leaders torpedoed reform in a fit of partisan

pique. Undaunted, Gov. Perdue will again call on legislators in the upcoming

session to pass these reforms and give the State Ethics Commission the

power it needs to restore Georgians' confidence in the ethics of their

public officials.

[Robert Highsmith is a former

member of the State Ethics Commission, now serving as Deputy Executive

Counsel to Gov. Sonny Perdue.]