House is its own cop in ethics bill

Tougher law leaves out Easley's plan for independent panel to handle ethics cases

The state House tentatively passed a much tougher ethics law for themselves and their Senate colleagues Wednesday, with criminal penalties for lying about personal finances and a ban on gifts from lobbyists and their clients.

But the House hasn't gone as far as Gov. Mike Easley and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand say it should. The House bill would allow legislators to continue policing their own ethics.

The bill would update a 30-year-old ethics law that has gathered dust. It has been 10 years since charges were filed against a legislator under the law.

The proposal follows months of reports of questionable legislative activity involving creation of the state lottery, a much-criticized mandate for prekindergarten eye exams and the creation of a state job for a former lawmaker who helped House Speaker Jim Black stay in power.

Those activities have prompted state investigations into possible lobbying and campaign finance violations. And a federal grand jury has been calling in witnesses familiar with Black's role in those and other activities.

House members voted for the revised law 114-3. But that was only after spending most of a three-hour debate watering down the bill and trying to make sure they would not be falsely accused of ethics violations.

The scene was much different earlier this week, when the House passed similar ethics rules for the executive branch.

"Just note the difference today, with the amount of attention and angst over the exact same rules that we passed very quickly yesterday when it was someone else who has to follow them," said Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican.

By one vote, the House amended the bill to raise the thresholds for reporting gifts. In the executive branch bill, gifts worth more than $200 from nonfamily members, or more than $100 from anyone who does business with the state, would have to be reported. The amended bill for lawmakers would raise that to gifts of more than $1,000 and more than $500, respectively.

Some legislators said gifts below those amounts wouldn't influence them.

"Even the baby Jesus accepted gifts, and I don't think it corrupted him," said Rep. Drew Saunders, a Mecklenburg County Democrat.

But Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said she didn't like the thought of being able to keep secret gifts worth $499 from people seeking favorable legislation. She voted against the amendment.

As for the full bill, Rep. John Rhodes, a Mecklenburg County Republican; Rep. Thomas Wright, a Wilmington Democrat; and Blust cast the only votes against it. Blust and Rhodes said the bill still gave legislative leaders too much control over ethics issues. Wright has said he is concerned that the bill would take away one of the few ways that nonprofit groups can be heard in the legislature.

Earlier in the day, Easley announced his proposals for ethics reform, which are being drafted into a bill by Rand, a Democrat from Fayetteville. Easley said his proposal would create an independent committee that would handle ethics matters for the executive and legislative branches, as well as nonjudicial employees of the judicial branch.

"It's workable, it's sensible, and I think it will be very effective," Easley said.

Easley and legislative leaders, all Democrats, appear to agree that public officials who lie about their financial affairs should face criminal charges. There's little dispute that more detailed financial reports are needed, as well as mandatory ethics training.

The battle keeps turning back to who should police lawmakers, with the House at odds with Easley and possibly the Senate, which has yet to take up legislation. Rand said he thinks Senate Democrats will back his bill.

Black said bringing lawmakers under an independent ethics committee raises constitutional issues. The state constitution gives each chamber the power to punish only its own members.

Former Superior Court Judge Robert Farmer, appointed by Easley to chair the state ethics board, said the power to punish would stay with lawmakers under Easley's proposal. The ethics board would investigate possible violations and make recommendations to lawmakers, who then would mete out punishment.

"You have over half the states in the country that do exactly what the governor has recommended," said Farmer, "and I don't hear too many concerns out there."