Racquet Club of Memphis
July 6, 2005
Thank you very much for inviting me to speak with you today.
I appreciate the work you do and the example you set for our community. The annual Dunavant Public Service Award is a good case in point.
Of all the statements made to me, the one most often heard is “I don’t know why you do it.” These days, in some circles, the fact that I am a lawyer and a legislator is like “double jeopardy.”
But my goals are like Rotary's goals: To foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise; the maintenance of high ethical standards; and the dignifying of my occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
In the midst of scandal like the Tennessee Waltz, these goals may sometimes seem out of reach.
But they are not. Today, I want to do two things. I want to tell you a little bit about what actually did get accomplished during the legislative session just ended, and I want to share my vision of where we go from here.
During this week following the celebration of our independence, it is appropriate to reflect upon the words of Ronald Reagan who said, “Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.”
What did we accomplish with the responsibility you have given us?
All in all, we adopted almost 400 new Public Acts within a $26 billion budget adopted without a tax increase.
As Chairman of Transportation, I oversaw adoption of the State’s first long range transportation plan with a 3-year program of work for construction and repair of roads and bridges in the state. We authorized over $700 million of construction this fiscal year which will strengthen our economy and the businesses that sustain growth.
We continued the ongoing implementation of the workers’ compensation reforms I helped to pass last year which resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of lawsuits filed this year. We estimate savings to Tennessee business in the neighborhood of $68 million through reduced premiums and costs.
We adopted a sales tax holiday which will take place next August and should be a blessing to families making their back-to-school purchases as well as a boon to business sales.
We passed the Job Growth Act which allocates $20 million toward job training and statewide broadband technology.
We adopted new land use, conservation and alternative fuels legislation.
And I sponsored a law which took effect this week mandating that only US citizens be permitted to carry handguns in Tennessee.
For Shelby County, I passed through the Senate legislation enabling the creation of special school districts here, and I sponsored a new law which facilitates intergovernmental agreements for the provision of emergency services in an effort to avoid situations like the tragedy which befell Wyeth Chandler and others for whom rescue was out of reach last year.
But the first half of the 104th General Assembly was unquestionably overshadowed by Tennessee Waltz and the allegations of bribery and extortion which led to the indictments of four legislators late and one former legislator in May. It threatens all of the good work we are doing for the good people of Tennessee in the General Assembly every day.
The current debate is whether we need to call a special session of the legislature to address ethics reform. Several weeks ago, I wrote the governor and asked him to do just that. To call a special session for the purpose of creating an independent ethics commission to oversee all branches of Tennessee government.
The governor has been indecisive on this. He has been hesitant to commit but took cover, last week, behind the guise of an appointed citizens’ panel on ethics reform to tell him what to do.
One positive is that the panel will be co-chaired by former Atty. General, Mike Cody, and retired State Senator, Ben Atchley, both of whom worked hard, although unsuccessfully, in the aftermath of the Rocky Top scandal nearly 20 years ago to create such an independent ethics commission. If it had been done then, we might well never have seen the likes of Tennessee Waltz today. This week, the Knoxville News reported that both Cody and Atchley agree we need an independent ethics commission.
Republican and Democrat Leadership alike have taken the position in recent weeks that no special session is needed. They say it will be too expensive. Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you it will be much more expensive to do nothing but wait. The cost of getting the foxes out of the henhouse on Capitol Hill is not to be looked at as mere expense; it is an investment in our future.
Obviously, allegations of public corruption have undermined your trust. Unless we take decisive action without further delay, recent events will continue to overshadow, indeed obstruct, our efforts to move Tennessee forward by addressing so many vital issues which require our attention and your support.
Unemployment is the highest it has been in Tennessee in 13 years. Within weeks, thousands of Tennesseans without health insurance will strain our ability to provide access to affordable health care. Tax relief, tort reform and inroads against illegal immigration remain to be addressed. Every one of these initiatives affects your business, your families and your future. And every one of these initiatives is threatened by the clouds of uncertainty which shroud our state capital in the storm we call Tennessee Waltz.
Machiavelli said, “ Just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.” At the end of the day, however, we cannot legislate morality or common decency. But we can legislate safeguards against that which threatens to pervert morality and common decency.
An independent ethics commission is one example of such a safeguard now in place in nearly half the states in the nation. They have the authority to recommend reprimand, suspension or removal of anyone in any branch of state government found to be in violation of policies, standards, rules, the laws of the State of Tennessee, or the laws of the United States of America. They also issue advisory opinions to government employees and elected officials who seek guidance in order to avoid ethical pitfalls.
De Tocqueville said, “America is great because America is good and if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.” The same can be said of Tennessee.
Let me close by repeating the sentiments I expressed in the Senate before we adjourned: “(W)e endeavor to restore trust in Tennessee that this “citizen legislature” might once again be embraced by the citizenry from whence we come to do the people’s business.
For it is the people’s business, not personal reward, which must always be our first priority. Not until the people are satisfied that each of those who toil in this Chamber put service before self will the sacrifice we make here be deemed worthy of our office and our oath.”
Thank you very much.
