State Capitol, Montgomery AL
ATLANTA-- Taking a cue from Alabama Republicans, Georgia Democrats proposed a formula that would fix funding for the state Ethics Commission and reduce its exposure to political pressure.
Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna), chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, proposed funding the Ethics Commission at .01% of the total state budget. In May 2011, Alabama's Republican Governor Robert Bentley signed a bill that would fund that state's ethics commission at .01% of the state budget.
Democrats say that formula would fund the Georgia Ethics Commission at about $800,000 annually, a slight increase from its current funding.
Earlier this year, the state of Georgia cut funding for the Ethics Commission, resulting in the firing of the agency's top administrator and her staff attorney. The agency was investigating, among other things, alleged irregularities in Gov. Nathan Deal's 2010 campaign for Governor at the time.
The legislature authorized the funding cuts, which were implemented by the commission's chairman, attorney Patrick Millsaps, a Deal appointee. Millsaps strongly denied allegations that the reorganization was designed to short-circuit the probe into Deal's campaign.
In June 2011, House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) expressed reservations about such a funding arrangement.
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"That's not to belittle ethics enforcement," Ralston said then. "But that's one area of state government, and we have to look at the whole range of state government."
Stoner's proposal includes a constitutional amendment, which would require voter approval. Alabama's measure was passed by the legislature. It can change the funding formula in any given budget with a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature.