Last week, Byrne described his third "E," presenting a 10-point plan for ethics reform while standing on the campus of what was once one of the most ethically challenged Alabama institutions — scandal-ridden Bishop State Community College in Mobile.
Alabama, as everyone knows, needs ethics reform.
Although items on Byrne's list have been discussed before, we commend him for keeping the issue front and center. Gov. Bob Riley has invested a lot of energy pursuing the sort of reforms called for by Byrne and Democratic candidate Artur Davis. The point is 2010 candidates must do more than present an agenda; they must tell Alabamians how they will accomplish it.
At the heart of Byrne's plan is the simple principle of full disclosure. If you work for the state, do business with the state, give money to candidates or organizations that support candidates or entertain legislators, you must let Alabama voters know who you are. Also, you must list how much you spend or contribute, and who gets the money.
With that information in hand, Alabamians can decide for themselves who is doing the bidding of special-interest groups and who is looking out for the general welfare of the state. That's vital information come election time.
Byrne wants to do away with double-dipping — the practice by which some legislators earn two paychecks from the state and become de facto lobbyists for the agency that employs them when they are not serving in the House or Senate.
Byrne also wants to extend the double-dipping prohibition to employees in all state agencies. He wants to extend the competitive-bid law to the executive branch, and he wants to put an end to the pass-through pork practice in which legislators get money appropriated to an agency or activity in order to move it from that budget to one that underwrites pet projects in the legislator's district.
To make sure no one can plead ignorance of the law, Byrne wants everyone who comes under these restrictions to attend training sessions. To put real teeth in enforcement, Byrne also wants the state Ethics Commission to be given subpoena powers — one of the most important and necessary components of any ethics-reform effort in Alabama.
Of course, this is just an outline. Details need to be filled in. For example, requiring legislators and key state employees to undergo criminal background checks sounds fine, but what will the state do with this information? Will there be new rules and new laws to define if a person who has served his time and paid his debt to society would still be denied state employment?
These questions notwithstanding, Byrne's list is a good one. We'll await the details as well as the responses from other gubernatorial candidates.
