Mike Moser "I Say" Published Feb. 7, 2003

Bredesen's ethics
policy long overdue

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's announcement this week announcing a new ethics policy for the executive branch of state government was like a breath of fresh air. Hopefully the General Assembly will follow Bredesen's lead.

"Solid ethics is essential to good government," Bredesen said a press release announcing the policy. "This new policy will help make sure my administration stays open and honest."

Next Thursday I will be entering my 20th year as editor of the Crossville Chronicle, migrating here from Alabama, another great Southern state that loves its politics almost with as much fervor as it loves its football. Maybe there is a subliminal connection. I don't know.

Plunging immediately into a crash course of local and state politics and the operation of those respective governments, I became suspicious of some of the things I saw.

In 1984, there was a sheriff's deputy who served as chairman of the county commission's law enforcement committee. What we had was an officer who had a hand in controlling the budget of the man for whom he worked. A neat little insurance policy, wouldn't you say?

There was a local educator who chaired the education committee. A county commissioner got a job in the solid waste department after being elected, and later served on the environmental committee which oversees the county's solid waste department's budget and policy.

Over the years I have seen people elected to county and city office who either landed in local government jobs or found jobs for family members.

Patronage, you might say, goes with the territory and has been practiced for years. That is true, but at some point, this form of patronage crosses the line and becomes a conflict of interest.

I was curious about the practice and called everyone in state government I could think to call. I learned that Tennessee did not have a conflict of interest law that extends to political office holders. The miserable conflict of interest law the state does have prohibits the husband of a teacher from selling supplies to the school system, solely because the proprietor's wife is a school teacher. They reason this is using position for personal gain.

The same General Assembly that says this is wrong, apparently sanctions the more widely practiced custom of working for government and serving on committees that hold the purse strings and guide policy for commissioners' employers.

Every person I called, from the executive branch to the State Attorney General's Office, I got the same curious responses. I was either told: 1). This is what elections are for; if the public doesn't like it, then they can wait four years and vote them out; or, 2). In some of the rural areas where everyone is related to everyone, it would be hard to find someone to serve.

I was actually told a state ethics law would cause a hardship on some rural counties.

I guess the shocker to me was the fact that not only does Alabama have an ethics law, but it also established an ethics commission that the public may file complaints with to challenge what they see as ethics violations. It was established in the mid 70s.

It is time the General Assembly finds some integrity and addresses the issue of ethics in government. It may not be popular, but it is the right thing to do.

"Establishing a strong ethical code is the first step to rebuilding Tennesseans' faith and trust in state government," Bredesen said in his announcement last week. "These new rules put in place a system that will help us prevent conflicts of interest."

It was not by chance that establishing the ethics policy was Bredesen's first executive order. It sends a message. A refreshing one. It requires detailed personal financial disclosures by top government officials, creates an ethics committee to consider alleged violations of ethical conduct, requires annual certification of ethical conduct and designates a compliance officer in each department to make sure the rules are followed.

Let's encourage Bredesen to take this policy to the legislative process so that faith and trust in all phases of state and local government can be renewed.

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Mike Moser is the editor of the Crossville Chronicle. His column is published periodically on Fridays.