Legislators ready to talk ethics

Officials hope session will cleanse tainted government image this election year

By TOM HUMPHREY, tomhumphrey3@aol.com KnoxNews
January 8, 2006


NASHVILLE - Tennessee's 104th General Assembly will convene for the 25th special legislative session in a century this week, a year after FBI agents passed out cash and hosted receptions for its members.

The official records label such gatherings as "extraordinary sessions." And in this case, the word may fit.

The 132 members of the Legislature, two of them under federal indictments for bribery and two of them replacing lawmakers who quit while facing similar accusations, were summoned to the gathering by Gov. Phil Bredesen.

In the past year, Bredesen has dealt with charges - all rhetorical, none criminal - of cronyism and lapses in propriety within his own administration. Thus, the governor and legislators all hope the session will help cleanse a tarnished state government image in this election year.

Bredesen is up for re-election in 2006. So are all 99 seats in the state House and 17 of 33 in the Senate.

The sole topic of debate in this special session is ethics in government, the first time that topic has been singled out for sole-focus treatment of a legislative session in a state history marred by several scandals.

Past special sessions have ranged from a combative 1913 session when Gov. Ben Hooper successfully pushed anti-alcohol legislation to a contentious 1999 gathering when Gov. Don Sundquist unsuccessfully pushed a state income tax.

This session promises to be combative as well, though presumably not to the extent of two 1913 sessions that featured mass legislator walkouts and gun-toting citizens in the legislative chambers, according to historical accounts.

In the Senate, a threshold argument will deal with Republican calls for limiting the role of two indicted legislators, Sens. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis, and Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga. Both say they plan to participate and vote. Another partisan dispute looms in the seating of Sen. Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis, whose 13-vote victory in a special election has been challenged by her Republican opponent.

In the House, the session dawns with the chamber's top Democrat, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, publicly feuding with the top Republican, House Minority Leader Bill Dunn, over sponsorship of a comprehensive ethics reform bill drafted by a joint House-Senate committee. Naifeh says Dunn promised to co-sponsor the proposal. Dunn says he did not and disagrees with some provisions.

Dunn, a Knoxville lawmaker new to his GOP leadership post, said last week that he and other Republicans may present bills as alternatives to the 94-page proposal crafted by committee. The bill would create a new Tennessee Ethics Commission and rewrite substantial portions of state laws on lobbying and campaign finance.

The situation, coupled with Republicans holding a majority in the Senate while Democrats hold a majority in the House, has created some concerns over things deteriorating into a partisan gridlock. The governor expressed some unease over Dunn's maneuvers.

"I was enthusiastic because both Bill Dunn and Kim McMillan (House Democratic majority leader) were on the committee that unanimously passed out a bill," said Bredesen in an interview Friday. "I thought that was a good sign. I was obviously disappointed that somebody, after voting for the bill, to send it on to the floor, says, 'Oh, by the way, I've changed my mind and I'm going to introduce a bill of my own.'

"I'd like to see something that has broad support across party lines," Bredesen added. "I'm certainly less confident of that than I was the day the committee had a bipartisan vote to get behind the bill. But I certainly haven't given up hope."

Dunn said that while "there may have been an expectation" on the part of Naifeh and others that Republican leaders would co-sponsor the bill, there was never any promise. He said that descriptions of some provisions in the draft legislation given during committee hearings differ from the written reality and that he feels obliged to seek changes or alternative legislation.

"I'm going to try to do it in a very tactful way," Dunn said.

For example, he cited an exception to the general ban within the bill on wining and dining of legislators by lobbyists. The exception, proposed by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Randy Rinks of Savannah, would allow lawmakers to accept gifts from businesses that employ lobbyists - not the lobbyists themselves - under certain restrictions.

Dunn said the explanation in committee sounded as if the idea was to "let you go to a Christmas reception and have punch and cookies," while "intentionally or not" the actual language means "you can go play golf and get your meals and lodging covered." Rinks said Dunn is exaggerating and that the provision simply allows legislators to visit with businesses in their home area that may also have a lobbyist and "have a cup of coffee without the businessman being subject to a $10,000 fine" - the maximum penalty for violation of the proposed new lobbyist restrictions.

Some disagreements with the bill's provisions are on a bipartisan basis. Some legislators on both sides of the aisle, for example, have questioned the need to create a new ethics commission rather than simply expand the powers of the existing Registry of Election Finance. Bredesen supports the independent commission and said his draft budget for the coming year specifically includes funding for the commission to hire a staff and investigators.

The special session will convene at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with Bredesen delivering a speech to the assembled legislators an hour later. Its duration is something of an open question, though the governor has loosely set a schedule that calls for completion by Jan. 30. He has set his "state of the state" speech for that date, and the state constitution requires that the Legislature be in "regular session" rather than "extraordinary session" at the time of that address.

"I wouldn't say it's a deadline, but it's kind of a natural slot into which this thing fits," said Bredesen. "The ethics stuff is not rocket science. There's only so many things you can do, and I think those things can be discussed, a decision rendered on what things are important and what things are not in three weeks."

If legislators are at loggerheads on Jan. 30, Bredesen said the session could be extended another week or two.

Under constitutional rules for the special session, only the subjects given in the governor's official "call" for the session can be the subject of legislation that goes to the House or Senate floor for a vote. Bredesen's "call" is rather narrow, designed to restrict action to governmental ethics and campaign laws.

But that does not prevent legislative committees from holding meetings on non-ethics issues, and plans call for them to do so. None of the bills approved by committees during the special session can go on to a vote on the floor until the special session ends and the regular session is under way.

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mark Norris, R-Collierville, has plans for his panel to conduct hearings on allegations of political cronyism and other improper conduct in the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Norris said some legislative action may be warranted and that he believes it would fit within the special session topic of ethics.

Bredesen said that is not the case. And, while saying he stands ready to work with legislators in addressing THP problems, the governor also said he is ready for a partisan fight on the matter if Republicans want. He implied that practices were worse under his predecessor, Republican Sundquist.

"I'm trying very hard to look forward, to say we've got some problems in the Highway Patrol and let's work together," Bredesen said. "But if Sen. Norris or any other Republican would like to say to me - well, I don't know - let's just say we'll go back 10 years and turn over all of the rocks. Just ask me. I'd be delighted to do so.

"We can spend a lot of time going back and saying who did what to whom. I don't think that's particularly productive, but if that's where they want to take it, I'm happy to take it there," he said.