RALEIGH -- North Carolina Republicans for months have made Democrats' perceived ethical problems a major issue.
Gov. Bev Perdue on Monday proposed bills to ferret out conflicts of interest and undue influence, a development that suggests ethics may be the key battleground not only for the legislative session that starts in May, but for fall House and Senate races.
Perdue's proposals come as federal investigators press corruption charges against a high-ranking official in her predecessor's administration. Perdue herself has had to disclose problems with her campaign finances, issues that have given Republicans openings to attack. When Republicans learned that Perdue planned to unveil her ethics agenda Monday, they raced to be first, pitching a bill meant to expose patronage and misconduct, and they attacked Perdue for waiting until now to push reforms.
Perdue is not up for re-election until 2012, but Republicans have made her their opponent in 2010.
"She and Barack Obama are the face of every Democrat on the ballot," said Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, of Eden. State GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer dispatched ane-mail Monday afternoon, complete with a request for contributions, charging that Perdue should have started an ethics cleanup months ago.
Perdue has already taken steps to increase transparency and tighten rules within her administration. She has hired auditors to scour her campaign records for problems. Some of those new rules were a response to problems faced by appointees of former Gov. Mike Easley, a fellow Democrat. His former aide Ruffin Poole pleaded not guilty to 57 corruption-related charges Monday.
The Perdue campaign's self-scrutiny has resulted in the disclosure of 31 unreported free airplane flights, and the campaign forfeited $48,000 in questionable contributions last month after Republicans spotlighted them.
Tarred and feathered
Perdue said Monday that she is trying to reassure ajaded public that public servants are not crooks.
"We are quickly moving in this state, if not throughout the country, to a point where we are going to be unable to get good people to serve or to run for office because we all seem to be tarred and feathered with the same brush," she said.
Some of the reforms Perdue proposed Monday cleared the state House last year. Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat and the chamber's majority leader, has said the measures didn't clear the Senate only because time ran out on the session. Nesbitt and other Democrats have said that the Easley investigations have highlighted the need for changes.
Perdue's reform pitch includes:
Limiting the influence of business: Perdue would prohibit contractors who do business with the state from giving contributions to officials who oversee the awarding of contracts. Perdue says the legislature should adopt a one-year cooling-off period to keep high-level state employees from going to work for a company or industry they previously regulated. High-level state employees would also have a one-year wait to become a lobbyist.
Tougher requirements for appointees: Perdue had signed an executive order requiring the removal of any of her appointees under felony indictment or who refuse to cooperate with investigators. Her reform package would extend that standard to all appointees in state government. Appointees would have to attend 75 percent of meetings and abide by a ban on gifts and conflict-of-interest standards.
Perdue is also seeking the power to remove any of her appointees at will. In an executive order signed Monday, Perdue will now require full disclosure of an applicant's background, including any convictions. The News & Observer recently reported that a Perdue appointee to the board that regulates auctioneers had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to vote buying in South Carolina.
"I sure am tired of being surprised when I pick up my paper or turn on your news programs that there are legitimately questionable issues in some appointees' backgrounds," she said.
Strengthening ethics: Perdue wants to extend a ban on gifts to employees in her administration to all of state government. She wants to require state employees convicted of corruption to forfeit their pensions.
Perdue proposed allowing ethics disclosure forms to be filed electronically and requiring state officials to file those forms to cover their last year in office. Perdue also wants those forms to require disclosure of any gift worth more than $200 and any gift worth more than $100 from anyone who does business with the state.
The nonpartisan N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform embraced Perdue's proposals Monday as a crucial step toward restoring the public's trust in government, damaged in recent years by a string of scandals.
Former Democratic House Speaker Jim Black is serving a federal prison term after he pleaded guilty in 2007 to corruption charges. Other Democrats, including former state Rep. Thomas Wright of Wilmington and former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, have been convicted of corruption.
"When citizens feel that they cannot believe in either their elected officials or their government, our system is undermined," said Jane Pinsky, the coalition's director.
Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson acknowledged that the current environment, primarily the Easley investigation, makes it difficult for ethics reform measures to gain attention, but that's precisely why Perdue wants to push them.
"Because we have this juicy scandal sort of hanging over everyone's head, she unfortunately finds herself in that shadow, despite her best efforts to open the door and let the sunshine in," Pearson said. "She could look at this as a challenge. She could look at this as a frustration. She has chosen to look at this as an opportunity."
