Rep. Cam Ward Editorial: In 2010, Voters Must Hold Democrats Accountable for Ethics Reforms

The following is an editorial from Cam Ward, state Representative for District 49 and 2010 candidate for the Senate District 14 seat that Hank Erwin plans on vacating.

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Alabama Democrats have been “all hat and no cattle” on ethics reform for decades; they talk about change in front of cameras and constituents back home, but when it comes time to make the positive changes, Democrat Leadership always finds an excuse. Whatever they may say publicly, their actions show that Democrats in the state legislature have no intention of ever passing meaningful ethics reforms. If they had intended to do so, they could have used their large majorities in both houses of the state legislature at any point in the last 100 years.

I sponsored a bill this session to give the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power to question witnesses and examine records for their investigations of corrupt public officials. After all, Alabama is the only state in the nation without this authority, and the recent corruption convictions of two Democrat legislators coupled with the recent headlines about county and state corruption bolsters the argument that we need it. When the subpoena power bill came up for a vote in Committee in a room full of reporters, the bill sailed out favorably with bipartisan support. After that, the bill mysteriously disappeared and never made it to the floor for a full House vote because the House Democrats did not want to see it pass.

One of the bills the Governor proposed would have limited what lobbyists could spend on legislative gifts and what they could spend on entertaining legislators during session. Once again, certain legislative leaders nodded in approval when the cameras were rolling, but relegated the Governor’s proposals to the ash heap of dead bills once the lights were dimmed.

It seems that most Democrats in the legislature either don’t understand concerns about public corruption or they simply have no regard whatsoever of what their constituents care about. The daily revelations of public corruption across our state demonstrate the need to have ethics reform debated and discussed in public, not buried by legislative procedural tricks.

I believe the people are well served by the two-party political system in America and in Alabama. I am proud to be a Republican, but I have avoided making hyper-partisan statements during my tenure in the Alabama House of Representatives. It is time, however, to call out those who have stood in the way of passing meaningful ethics reform in Alabama. For 113 years, Democrats have controlled both houses of the Alabama Legislature, and in recent years they have governed with little or no regard for reforming the state’s ethics laws. The people of Alabama should give Republicans a chance to govern.

For those opposed to ethics reform, the days of wearing the ethics hat on top of a head of empty rhetoric are coming to a close, and the voters will have the final say. I will do my part to get the word out because the people of this state deserve better and I believe a Republican majority will give it to them.