GOP CANDIDATE JOHNSON CALLS RILEY REFORM PACKAGE WEAK
MONTGOMERY, Ala., OCT 19 , 2009 - Gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson is urging Gov. Riley to strengthen his proposed Government Accountability Reform Package and back up his commitment to fight corruption by signing the Christian Coalition's Integrity Pledge. In a signing ceremony last week, seven of the nine candidates for governor committed to protect the integrity of the state's highest office. A representative of the Byrne campaign, boasting that the current administration has implemented the highest ethical standards in the history of the state, said emphatically that, if elected, Byrne would uphold the high ethical standards set by Riley.
The Governor issued a statement today announcing that 'Government Accountability Reform will top the Governor’s legislative agenda for the upcoming Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature,' Johnson said quoting the release. "Accountability and ethics reform are certainly needed. My problem with the proposed reform is that it isn't true reform."
As stated in the release, 'Riley's Government Accountability Reform package will:
• Require full disclosure of any gifts, meals, travel, tickets to sporting events, and other things of value provided by lobbyists to public servants and members of their family.
• Require lobbyists to fully disclose to the Ethics Commission any and all financial transactions between lobbyists and public servants and their family.
• Require lobbyists who lobby the executive branch for grants and contracts to register with the Ethics Commission.
• Require public servants and their household members to disclose to the Ethics Commission all jobs and consulting contracts they have with any business, nonprofit or other entity that receives public funds, and all household income derived from any state or local government entity or institution.
• Require the Ethics Commission to post on the Internet all lobbyists spending on public servants and their household members. The disclosures would be searchable on the Internet by the name of the public servant and the lobbyist.
• Finally give subpoena power to the Ethics Commission. '
"You'll notice that bullet points one and two require full disclosure of gifts, financial transactions, etc, of public servants and members of their family. In bullet points four and five, the requirement for public servants and their families is mysteriously changed to include only public servants and their 'household members.' What household members, other than your spouse, are going to receive contracts and public funds--your twelve year old son or fifteen year old daughter? Of course not. It is an insult to the taxpayers of Alabama to pretend that children living under your roof are receiving such perks. True reform and accountability only come when gifts and contracts to ALL children, living within or without the immediate household, are disclosed.
"Last week, the majority of gubernatorial candidates or their representative stood side-by-side with the Christian Coalition and committed to integrity in the state's highest office. Our pledge includes reporting of gifts and contracts to ALL children. I'm deeply concerned that the Governor admits 'We need to overhaul our Ethics Code to make state and local governments more transparent and accountable to the people,' and yet, his proposed reform is weak," continued Johnson. "If Byrne is going to follow in the footsteps of our predecessor in ethics reform, as was stated a number of times by the candidate's pledge representative, Lord help us. We will never gain the trust of the people."
On Sept. 28, Johnson asked Riley to recuse himself from serving as Jefferson County’s lead negotiator in the sewer debt crisis. The release quoted Johnson as saying, "Serving as lead negotiator for Jefferson County, through whom the law firms of both the Governor’s son and son-in-law are benefiting financially does not build trust," Johnson said. "I have had a number of people ask me if this creates a conflict of interest. The world has their eyes on the increasing stench of the Jefferson County sewer crisis. In order to remove any perception that a conflict of interest may exist between the county’s lead negotiator—Gov. Riley—and the law firms representing both sides of the sewer crisis, I urge the Governor to ‘build trust’ with the citizens of Alabama by recusing himself from these negotiations."
Integrity of the highest office in the State has also been brought under scrutiny during the past few months with the Governor's commitment to sign a $13M no-bid contract to a company with no apparent business address, website or phone number. In a Sept 14 letter to the Governor, Johnson urged the Governor to take a close look at the questionable contract, stating, ' As a former member of your Cabinet and understanding your commitment to stopping no-bid contracts, I know you will be interested in looking carefully at this contract and continuing the high standards you set for transparency and accountability in Alabama state government.' Obtaining a copy of records pertaining to the contract with Paragon Source, LLC, held up for 45-days by the Legislative Contract Oversight Review Committee, eventually required a subpoena--the first ever issued by the Committee . Days are counting down toward the end of that 45-day period, and numerous questions still remain about its validity.
At a time when citizens across the country are concerned about politicians saying one thing and doing another, Johnson is concerned about a 7-year commitment to no-bid contracts shifting direction with the signing of the Paragon Source contract. "Every desk of every director and commissioner of a state agency bears signs that say "Bid It" and "Does it Build Trust?" The signs were placed there under the direction of the Governor.
"In the final fourteen months of the Governor's eight year term, I think the citizens of Alabama would like to see a renewed commitment to honesty and integrity in State government," Johnson said. "As stated in the Christian Coalition's pledge, signed by seven gubernatorial candidates or their representatives, I urge the sitting Governor to join us in a commitment, which stated that we pledge to 'uphold the highest integrity of this Office and ensure that the trust of the citizens of Alabama in this Office is not violated or brought into question by any action, inaction, or decision in the discharge of my official duties which would materially impact the financial interest of me, my spouse, my siblings, my children or the spouses of my children whether residing within or without my immediate household."
"The citizens of Alabama can see right through the proposed Government Accountability Reform Package," concluded Johnson. "I urge Gov Riley to strengthen his ethics package and join us in the signing of the Coalition's integrity pledge."
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