https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10209449842945153
Progress In Drafting Ethics Reform Legislation
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 17, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 17, 2016
Let's face it. Alabama has evolved into a cesspool of public corruption that has invaded every branch of our state and local governments. The corruption scandals engulfing Robert Bentley, Rebekah Mason and Mike Hubbard have made it abundantly clear that we have to do much more work on accountability, transparency, and ethics in government.
Since we published "Turning Point" on April 3, 2016, we have collected and catalogued countless ethics reform ideas from Alabama voters who are demanding greater accountability from our elected and appointed officials. I am circulating these reform ideas in this open forum in order to secure constructive feedback. No legislators have had input into these reform ideas. Our Facebook friends and followers are the ones proposing and advancing these ideas.
The proposed reforms and the rationale for each proposal are presented below:
1. Any elected or appointed municipal, county, or state official in Alabama who is convicted of state or federal ethics and/or public corruption charges shall, upon conviction, automatically forfeit his/her entitlement to any publicly funded pension earned in his/her capacity as a public official.
Rationale: Public officials must have something at risk beyond the thought of going to prison if they are caught committing public corruption crimes.
2. No member of the executive and legislative branches of government, nor any consultant working with members of these branches of government, shall economically benefit, directly or indirectly, from any government contract let, reviewed, and/or approved by such officials, consultants, and/or government agencies with which they are affiliated.
Rationale: This provision prevents future "Rebekah Masons" from working both sides of government contracts and profiting on each side of the deal.
3. No elected or appointed public official shall accept anything thing of value, including sexual acts or sexual favors, from any person. This ban excludes the acceptance of gifts from immediate family members and close relatives. This ban also precludes the acceptance the things of value from lobbyists, public and private institutions, and private corporations. This ban does not include the acceptance of lawful campaign contributions during the period specified in law when such contributions can be accepted.
Rationale: This provision bans any exchange of money, gifts, or other things of value between public officials and those who seek to control or influence their actions as public officials. This provision also expressly bans all forms of sexual bribery. This ban places those who "traffic in influence peddling" on an equal footing with ordinary citizens.
4. No elected or appointed official shall accept a flight on a private aircraft, a voyage on a private yacht, or travel paid for by lobbyists or other similarly situated third parties, if such a party has an official business relationship with a municipal, county, or state government agency.
Rationale: Private jets, yachts, and all-expense paid trips are tools influence peddlers use to seduce public officials, and they work every time.
5. No public official shall use campaign funds to pay legal expenses for criminal defense attorneys, if and when the public official is charged with a crime.
Rationale: Campaign donors are not told they will be paying criminal defense lawyers when public officials are running for office. Taking campaign money without expressly disclosing this category of expenditure is essentially an act of fraud.
6. Any public official who is indicted on state or federal ethics and/or public corruption charges shall automatically vacate his office upon indictment. If the public official is subsequently acquitted at the conclusion of his/her trial, he/she shall be automatically reinstated to his/her public office unless his/her term in office expired while he/she was awaiting trial.
Rationale: Indicted public officials need to leave office immediately and focus on their personal problems until they have been resolved favorably.
7. Elected officials shall be prohibited from expending any campaign funds to pay for the professional services of their mistresses, girlfriends, escorts, and/or prostitutes.
Rationale: Campaign donors should not be expected to fund the romantic relationships and/or sexual liaisons of public officials.
8. If a elected public official accepts any campaign contribution from a lobbyist, or client of a lobbyist, or political action committee ("PAC") associated with a lobbyist, such public official shall be required file a monthly report of: (a) any and all meetings with said lobbyists, PACs, and related entities, and (b) any actions and/or votes taken by them in furtherance of the economic interests of the campaign contributor or his/her/its benefactor.
Rationale: If public officials are going to take campaign contributions from big donors, they ought to tell the public when they are acting to advance the economic interests of those campaign donors.
9. Lobbyists, and parties affiliated with them, shall be prohibited from furnishing female escorts and prostitutes to elected and appointed officials in exchange for political commitments and favorable treatment.
Rationale: This provision bans lobbyists and others from facilitating "sex for power" exchanges.
10. All donations to 501(c)(4) corporations established under Alabama law shall be fully and completely disclosed to the Alabama Secretary of State's Office by such corporations on a quarterly basis, together with a list of itemized expenditures by these corporations for the quarterly reporting period.
Rationale: "Dark money" transactions facilitated Robert Bentley's "sex for power" scandal with Rebekah Mason. All "dark money" transactions should be transparent money transactions that are publicly reported quarterly. If money is passed through a 501(c)(4) corporation to persons affiliated with members of the executive and legislative branches of government, then this money must be fully and timely disclosed.
11. If a company registered to conduct business in Alabama is determined by a administrative agency proceeding or court of law to have funded "dark money" transactions for the purpose of paying the mistresses and girlfriends of members of the executive and legislative branches of government in return for government tax credits, incentives and/or exemptions, then the company's business registration and license in Alabama shall be automatically revoked upon such determination.
Rationale: Corporations that fund marital infidelity should not be allowed to conduct business in Alabama.
Please send me your feedback, via Facebook private message, on this ethics reform proposal. This list of reform provisions is not meant to be exhaustive. Additional reforms may be included as we secure greater voter input. We will try to finalize this reform package in time for the anticipated special session of the legislature.
We still need to find bipartisan sponsors and supporters for the legislation. We need our entire Facebook network to forward the final version of our ethics reform proposal to their legislators, along with a request that they sponsor the reform proposal. Any legislator who runs away from these reforms is "suspect" and needs to be defeated in 2018.
The legislative sponsors will have to get the Legislative Reference Service to codify these reform proposals into a specific Act of the legislature. We must also demand a public hearing on the legislation.
Please send me your feedback as quickly as possible so that we can finalize this ethics reform package and present it to the legislature from the voters of Alabama.
Thank you.
Donald V. Watkins
