As expected in an election year the Alabama Legislature went to business, passed budgets, gave out raises and bonuses and then recessed to tell their constituents they needed their support in the upcoming election.
As I watched, sometimes there and other times through news accounts and talking to people, it was basically a good, non-confrontational session. We expect those in election years. Legislators came come home talking about teacher raises, employee raises, bonuses, tax cuts and more which makes good ammunition for a re-election campaign.
It appears there was some controversy in the closing days about amending the ethics law to free economic developers from having to register as lobbyists and fall under the strict ethics laws.
When the Republicans took over Montgomery they passed a lot of strong ethics laws that actually caught more of their own in the trap. The people of Alabama wanted our elected officials to be held accountable and that's what the Legislature did.
Granted, they went overboard on the first attempt. Teachers were not allowed to accept gifts from students. That wide-stretching net included the kindergarten student from giving his or her teacher a candy cane or coffee mug full of candy for Christmas. If the teacher accepted that gift they would be in violation of the ethics law. That was ridiculous and the law was changed to set some price limits. I really don't think kindergarten students are trying to bribe their teachers. That's the age they love their teachers; that changes when they get into middle school and high school and really want to bribe their teacher.
Reminded me of an old Andy Griffin show when Opie fell in love with teacher Helen Crump and Barney asked Andy when kids quit hating their teachers.
The bill passed to exempt economic developers from the ethics law drew a lot of criticism from Democrats as an attempt to weaken the ethics law.
Granted, I haven't read the new law dealing with economic development. I have talked to several legislators and others who understand it better than I do. But from what I've heard, I agree the the exemption needed to be made.
Economic development is a cut-throat business. We all want new businesses in our area. Most politicians campaign on promising to create jobs. Getting them is a different story.
I was in Montgomery a few weeks ago to talk to someone in Gov. Kay Ivey's office and I was going to take her to lunch, but I was told I couldn't spend more than $25 or she would be in violation of the ethics law.
I've been involved with economic development since I joined the newspaper business in Fayetteville, Tenn. I've seen the process. I'm currently serving on the Escambia County Economic Development Authority and I understand that landing a company or coming up short is a thin straw.
Before Alabama changed its open meetings law, county commissions and town councils were not allowed to discuss potential economic development opportunities behind closed doors. If there was a company that was thinking about moving here and was looking for land options or tax credits it had to be done in an open meeting. These companies didn't want to show their hand out front because they were still looking at options. Printing a story in the newspaper that company X was looking to buy X property to build a plant could jeopardize the whole deal.
I've been in meetings when an economic developer asked me to put my pen down. I've done so on many occasions. They needed some approval from the county commission or a town council, but they weren't ready to go public. I had every legal right to report that news, but I wasn't going to be the person responsible for killing an economic development opportunity for the county or the cities involved by 'breaking' the news.
From what I've read and what I've heard my gut tells me that giving economic development people an exemption to the ethics law is a good move. Remember, they are exempt – elected officials who may have a final say are not.
We still have laws on the book to prevent economic developer X from 'paying a bride' to elected official Y to secure a deal.
To me it was a good move by the Legislature. If it turns into a problem they can fix it the same way they finally allowed a kindergarten student to give their teacher a rose for Valentines Day.
