Alabama Gets Serious about Ethics and Lobbying Reform
One isn't giving away state secrets to note that Alabama has historically been regarded as the political Wild West when it came to campaign finance, lobbying and ethics reform. Recent high profile criminal indictments and guilty pleas involving legislators and lobbyists alike have certainly helped solidify that reputation. Now, with a press announcement giving nod to Alabama's -- shall we say -- checkered penal past, Alabama Governor Bob Riley can claim triumph in transitioning Alabama from having "some of the weakest ethics and public corruption laws in the country to some of the strongest."
Earlier this month, pursuant to powers afforded by the Constitution of Alabama, the governor called the Alabama Legislature into Extraordinary Session to provide him with comprehensive Political Law reform. On December 16th, the Legislature adjourned having provided Governor Riley with the legislation he was seeking. In a photo op on December 20, surrounded by Boy Scouts whose stern little faces showed how serious their Governor is about corruption reform, Governor Riley signed seven separate pieces of legislation including provisions "to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers, put the first-ever limits on what lobbyists and those who hire lobbyists can spend on public officials, grant the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power, ban pass-through pork spending and double dipping by legislators, end taxpayer funding of political activity for special interest groups, and require lobbyists who lobby the executive branch to register and file disclosures."
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New York State Attorney General and Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo has announced additional settlements in his investigation of "pay-to-play" practices and conflicts of interest at public pension funds. Veteran Albany lobbyist Patricia Lynch Associates, Inc. will pay a $500,000 fine and be banned for a period of five years from appearing before the State Comptroller's Office. The State Comptroller is the sole trustee of New York State's approximately $133 billion Common Retirement Fund (CRF)..jpg)
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) is at it again. MSRB is wasting no time putting rules in place to address pay-to-play practices for the advisory community. MSRB called a special meeting to address this issue, among others, on the heels of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which expanded MSRB’s jurisdiction to include the regulation of municipal advisors, in addition to dealers, which MSRB has regulated since 1975. The MSRB Board of Directors agreed to issue a request for comment on a rule that would restrict municipal advisors from engaging in or soliciting business from municipal entities when an advisor has made certain political contributions to a municipal officer responsible for awarding that business. The rule would mirror the one currently in place for dealers. MSRB officials have said the rule would not be retroactive.
