Editorial: Government accountability necessary for public trust
Published: October 29, 2009
When accountability is demanded, men and women elected to represent the people’s best interest should firmly get on board, never find loopholes that allow them to use the system for their own benefit or fight legislation that requires transparency.
After all, if these men and women are really clean, then why in the world would a lawmaker argue when new ethics/accountability-related legislation is proposed?
Makes you wonder who’s hiding what.
Tuesday, Gov. Bob Riley demanded that Alabama’s colleges and universities must notify his office if elected officials attempt to use their institutions as pass-through pork. We’ve got enough issues with education in this state.
We don’t need our colleges to be used by lawmakers to serve other purposes.
“Pass-through pork is corrupt, it’s wrong and it’s an abuse of the taxpayers,” said Riley.
“No government official should be able to take taxpayer money that is appropriated for one use and secretly spend it for something else.”
According to a release issued through Riley’s office, an undisclosed number of legislators attempted to take $1.89 million of funds appropriated for the University of Alabama and transfer them into the Department of Education.
Whether or not the Department of Education needed those funds more at the time can be up for debate, but that’s an argument that should be discussed openly — and with the governor’s knowledge — before funds are taken from one place and put in another.
If funds were going to be transferred, it’s understandable that another division of education in this state be a strong candidate for that.
But that doesn’t make it right.
“People need to be able to look at a budget and know exactly how much money is being appropriated to a specific entity,” House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said.
Money for education in this state has dwindled badly in recent years and that’s why it’s so important that education-related dollars be properly policed now more than ever.
Government needs accountability. When government fights accountability, how do you earn and retain public trust?
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In April of 2005 I spoke before the Constitution and Elections Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives in favor of a bill that, if passed, would have helped restore trust in our legislature, saying, in part:
“I support Initiative and Referendum, especially in the form House Bill 276 would provide, for one basic, reason: It would be good for me, good for all Alabamians, and good for our state government—especially this legislature.
The enactment of this bill would be a contributing factor toward restoring public trust and confidence in our government, because it would send a message to your constituents that you trust them enough to give them an opportunity to have more of a voice in how the government they own operates than they have now - with their only voice, now, being through the two legislators that they send here to work in their behalf – just two out of the 140 members of the Alabama Legislature.
This bill, as written, is no more than an insurance policy that will insure that if the legislature fails to work for the benefit the majority of the voters, then those voters will have a means of doing it for themselves.
There is nothing to fear about this bill, unless the legislators fear the voters of Alabama.“
Representative Mike Ball authored that bill, and he has continued to introduce it in each regular session of the legislature since then. In the 2009 session it was known as HB 279. I’m confident that he will introduce it again in 2910.
The only way his bill will ever be passed by the legislature is for enough voters to apply pressure on the two legislators who represent them to make a majority of legislators fear being voted out of office if they don’t vote for it. Voters can help bring better government to Alabama if they want it badly enough to do just that.
Those not familiar with Initiative and Referendum are invited to visit my website at www.doctoriq.com.
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