Ralston’s Reform Too Good to Be True

Posted on January 30, 2013 by William Perry

House Speaker David Ralston spoke to members of the media on Tuesday, Jan. 29, as he unveiled his long-awaited plan for ethics reform. Photo by: Jason Getz of the AJC – jgetz@ajc.com

How wonderful it would be for Georgia’s ethics commission to be able to write rules again. It would be a marvelous thing for lobbyists to lose their ability to give unlimited gifts to government officials in this state. The two bills presented by Georgia’s House Speaker, David Ralston, contain many legitimate and praiseworthy ideas.

We’re pleased to see an actual debate about ethics reform emerge at the start of this session. After the last two years of claims that the status quo should be acceptable, we want to encourage honest conversation about transparency and influence to continue.

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Posted in Georgia Legislation, Government Ethics, Lobbying | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Atlanta Fails for Spending Transparency

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Rachel Bradley

A recent report from the Georgia Public Interest Research Group Education Fund found that the City of Atlanta’s spending transparency is not up to par with current standards. The report analyzed thirty of the country’s largest cities’ transparency practices. Atlanta was ranked in the bottom five for spending transparency receiving a failing score of only 46.

Atlanta was docked because it doesn’t offer anything above and beyond its standard budget documents. Seventeen out of thirty of the cities studies provided residents with online access to “checkbook level” details of expenditures.  Atlanta was one of the five failing cities that provided no online checkbook for the cities expenses, which inhibits citizens from knowing what their tax dollars are going to fund.

The report shows that transparency websites cost little to start up, and increase efficiency and ultimately save money in the long run. One of the major benefits to such sites is that it reduces the need for cities to process as many open records requests. Making the information available for wide consumption also helps keep officials accountable to the public. The argument often used in the State Legislature is that disclosure is enough to maintain ethical standards. Having this data on a city level would be one step closer to having a more transparent city, and helping residents trust their local government.

In a press release Laura Murray, Advocate for the Georgia PIRG Education Fund, highlighted how important these standards are saying, “City spending has a profound impact on residents’ lives through basic government functions such as policing, sanitation and public health.  Spending transparency can help Atlanta’s population hold their elected leaders accountable and ensure that tax dollars are well spent.”

In order for Atlanta to increase its transparency rating it would need to implement some of the suggestions outlined by Georgia PRIG, namely:

  • Cities should provide online databases of government expenditures with “checkbook-level” detail.
  • Checkbook-level data should be searchable and downloadable.
  • Cities should provide web visitors with copies of contracts between vendors and the city.
  • Cities should disclose the tax subsidies awarded to individual companies and recipients.
  • Cities should maintain a central transparency portal for all city spending tools and documents.
  • Cities should allow residents to view service requests submitted by other residents and the city’s responses to those requests.

You can read the full report here.

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The Politics of Ethics Reform

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Rachel Bradley

For years the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform has been emphasizing how ethics reform isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, but a right or wrong issue. Well it seems like the legislators under the Gold Dome don’t quite agree. Now that it’s clear that the public is overwhelmingly behind ethics reform, particularly lobbyists’ gift caps, it seems like everyone wants to throw their hat into the ethics reform ring.

It’s turning into a free for all, that’s not only pitted Republican’s against Democrats, but the House against the Senate. Everyone wants to take the credit for crafting the “best” ethics reform bill, and everyone is trying their hand at it. Within the first two days of the session there were already several ethics bills in the Senate, and the House is likely to follow along with their own legislation shortly. For evidence of this look no further than when the Senate included a $100 gift cap in their rules. Instead of focusing on the fact that the Senate was moving in the right direction, everyone focused on the negatives. The House Speaker called it a “gimick”, and the Democratic Senators criticized it for being too lax.

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Posted in Georgia Legislation, Government Ethics, Lobbying | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fifty Pledge Signers Elected to General Assembly

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Rachel Bradley

With the elections finally over, we can now see which Lobbyist Gift Cap Pledge signers have made it through the finish line. When these fifty men and women take their seats under the Gold Dome in January, they will all be co-sponsoring a bill to limit lobbyist gifts to $100. Twenty nine House members, and twenty one Senate members will take the first steps towards reigning in the unlimited spending by lobbyists on our elected officials. Continue reading →

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Board battles over voter ID laws

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Guest Blogger

CCGA takes a lot of heat for supposedly being “liberal”. Well all those who assume we are such, clearly haven’t had a look at our Governing Board. We are committed to being non-partisan, and cross ideological. Our Board is united in their support for ethics reform, they courteously disagree on other issues unrelated to our top priorities. For proof of this look no further than the exchange that took place between Board members, when Bob Irvin, executive committee member, and former Republican House leader, sent out the following article for his fellow members to consider.

The column up for discussion appeared in USA Today on October 21st, and was written by John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky. It discusses the prevalence of voter fraud, and dismisses a widely cited study which claims voter fraud is very rare. The authors argue that voter fraud is easy to commit without voter id laws, and that the controversial laws are designed to ensure that fradulent voters do not discount the voices of the legitimate ones. Read the full article here

Please be aware that the views and opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of Common Cause Georgia or Common Cause national. 

Our intent with this blog is to allow for informed opinions from all perspectives, we realize that many posts will be controversial and not necessarily match our organization’s opinion, however, we think that vigorous debate is healthy for democracy and encourages public engagement. We welcome blog contributions that encourage citizens to engage in the political process.

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Local Control?

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Guest Blogger

CCGA Board Member Kerwin Swint recently wrote this for his Official Blog. It has been reproduced here with permission. The views and opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of Common Cause Georgia or Common Cause national. 

Our intent with this blog is to allow for informed opinions from all perspectives, we realize that many posts will be controversial and not necessarily match our organization’s opinion, however, we think that vigorous debate is healthy for democracy and encourages public engagement. We welcome blog contributions that encourage citizens to engage in the political process.

The debate over the Charter School Amendment on the GA election ballot next month is heating up, as supporters and opponents of the measure are on the march. GA schools superintendent John Barge, who announced his opposition to the amendment, has been warned by the Attorney General not to use public resources to campaign against it, and has been now threatened with legal action by the attorney representing the GA Charter Schools association.

Republican legislators are almost uniformly in support of the amendment. They believe public schools in GA are failing and that parents and students deserve alternatives. Practically everyone agrees that students need alternatives. The question is, who has the authority to approve charter schools? Remember, charter schools are also public schools. Right now that authority lies with local elected school boards, an interpretation upheld recently by the GA courts.

When I have talked to Republican officials over the years and read official statements by GOP candidates, one thing I’ve heard a lot is the phrase “local control,” especially when it comes to education in GA. Their position has been that local officials and leaders know best when it comes to the education of their children – better than some unelected bureaucrat in Atlanta or in Washington, D.C.

Now, however, it seems that “local control” is a mere inconvenience. If approved, the Charter School amendment would give the state government the authority to approve charter schools at the school district level over the objections of the local school board. Is that really a precedent Republicans want to establish?

Is the drive to establish as many charter schools as possible really worth abandoning conservative principles? And will dramatically increasing the number of charter schools significantly improve education for most students in GA? Are we sure about that?

Posted in Elections, Georgia Legislation | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A Look at the Ethics Commission by the Numbers

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Rachel Bradley

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the “State Ethics Commission”, and all it’s inefficiency. The three graphics below illustrate just how far the Ethics Commission has fallen in a short amount of time. Hover over the images to see the specific numbers. If you want to learn more about the numbers behind these graphics check out two great stories one by Jim Walls from Atlanta Unfiltered, the other by Chris Joyner from the AJC.

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Civics Lessons

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Guest Blogger

CCGA Board Member John Sugg recently wrote this opinion piece for Creative Loafing about the hotly debated charter school amendment, which is up for a vote this November. The views and opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of Common Cause Georgia or Common Cause national. 

Our intent with this blog is to allow for informed opinions from all perspectives, we realize that many posts will be controversial and not necessarily match our organization’s opinion, however, we think that vigorous debate is healthy for democracy and encourages public engagement. We welcome blog contributions that encourage citizens to engage in the political process.

The only math that many Georgia legislators learned goes like this: If a lobbyist gives you a few dollars above the table and a few more dollars quietly under the table, the sum is equal to thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars, which are larded onto the lobbyist’s clients via needless government policies and programs.

And that’s exactly the “new math” that’s going on with the Georgia Charter Schools Amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot. The usual Gold Dome gang — “what’s in it for me” politicians and lobbyists, the people who really call the shots — last year passed Georgia’s harsh immigration law while they were raking in cash from the private prison industry. Thus, the for-profit prison companies hoped the decidedly racist immigration law would provoke a surge in the prison population.

Retooling the same strategy this year for education, the legislators are whining “gimme, gimme more freebies” to their lobbyist pals who represent the charter school industry.

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