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Guest Column
Their biggest accomplishment thus far is they gave themselves a 62 percent pay raise. With commanding majorities in the House (63-42 Democrat) and in the Senate (23-12 Democrat), the Democrats clearly have the votes to do a lot of good for the people of Alabama. They should start by making good on the reform measures they promised they would enact in their "Covenant for the Future." Yet the legislative session just reached the halfway point and none of the reform legislation they campaigned on has been passed. Among the promises made, but not yet kept, were promises in the very first section of the "Covenant," the section on Ethics & Election Reform. In that section of the "Covenant" the Democrats promised to enact four measures that, if passed, would be among the most important accountability bills ever passed by the Alabama State Legislature. Starting from the bottom, number four on the promised reform measures list was a promise to "Eliminate all 'pork' projects from the state budgets." Number three on their Ethics & Election Reform promise list, "Pass legislation to strengthen the law against nepotism in state hiring." Number two on that list was "Require registered lobbyists to report to the Alabama Ethics Commission all expenditures related to appointed or elected public officials." And number one on the Democrats "Covenant for the Future" Ethics and Election Reform measures list: "Stop all PAC to PAC transfers." The emphasis should be on all … not some, not most, but all. Unfortunately, there must have been some fine print in the "Covenant" that got left out because the PAC to PAC transfer ban legislation that is being pushed by the Democrats in the state Senate does not stop "all" PAC to PAC transfers. In fact, to quote a Birmingham News editorial, "it is littered with exceptions." The bill the Democrat controlled Senate Government Affairs Committee put forth would allow PACs to give to political parties and the parties' PACs, to party caucuses and their PACs, to legislative caucuses and their PACs, as well as to other groups with PACs that support only one political party or that fund get-out-the-vote efforts. In other words, they are not stopping "all" PAC to PAC transfers, they are just re-routing the money. The chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, Sen. Wendell Mitchell (DLuverne,) said, "There was just a lot of sentiment in the Senate from people who wanted to make sure that this source of money was not dried up." The question the voters should be asking is, "Was the sentiment so strong that it justified breaking their 'Covenant'?" Again, it is important to note that the Democrats have commanding majorities in the state Legislature. If they wanted to keep their "Covenant" and "stop all PAC to PAC transfers" they could easily pass the legislation. Yet the bill that is set to come out of the state Senate does anything but ban the practice of hiding the true identity of the big money interests that fund the politicians in this state. As has been pointed out in previous articles, there are some special interest groups that Alabama voters hold in very low esteem. PACs are the means of choice of these special interest groups for disguising their political contributions to their favorite candidates and for getting around Alabama's limits on corporate campaign contributions. Many, if not most, legislators are unwilling to risk angering huge blocks of voters by taking money from pro-gambling groups, the AEA and plaintiff attorney groups that are so unpopular with many voters. Far too many politicians are more than willing to take all the money they can from controversial and unpopular sources as long as they can keep the voters from finding out about it. The only way they can keep doing that is to allow gamblers, union bosses and plaintiff groups to launder campaign money through various PACs to hide their contributions from the voters. If the Legislature passes this abomination of a bill, it will be business as usual when it comes to politicians hiding the identity of the special interests that fund their campaigns. In their "Covenant for the Future," the Democrats said, "We believe in a government that is accountable." Instead, their very first major legislative initiative was an unprecedented 62 percent pay raise and an attempt to push through a gambling expansion bill as a payoff to gambling kingpin Milton McGregor. It is doubtful that pay raises and payoffs are part of the "Covenant" the voters expected, but stopping "all" PAC to PAC transfers was expected, or at least, hoped for. With 15 legislative days left in the 2007 legislative session, the Democrats still have time to do a lot of good toward restoring public trust in our state government. They should honor their commitments and pass the reforms they promised in their "Covenant" and try to earn that pay raise they gave themselves. They may find that keeping their word might also earn them a little more respect.
Gary Palmer is president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families, which are indispensable to a prosperous society.
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