Republican Budget Reduces Ethics Funding

Atlanta, GA - Governor Sonny Perdue's proposed 2011 budget will weaken ethical investigations into the behavior of state politicians. The proposal comes just weeks after the House Speaker's resignation due to an affair with a lobbyist.

The State Ethics Commission is charged with policing General Assembly members. Perdue's budget states the agency's mission as follows:

"The State Ethics Commission protects the integrity of the democratic process, and ensures fair elections with the public disclosure of campaign financing and significant private interests of public officers and candidates for public office."[1]

The Commission's budget will be reduced in Governor Perdue's plan.

The latest proposal continues the trend of annual funding cuts for the State Ethics Commission. These cuts are scheduled to occur despite the Governor's own estimate of a four-fold increase in cases filed with the commission for the upcoming year[2].

"Republicans in the General Assembly expect the state to investigate four times the cases with less money," said Jane Kidd, Democratic Party Chair. "The State Ethics Commission has been underfunded for years.  If Republicans are serious about cleaning up the Capitol, they should work with us in a bipartisan fashion to restore or increase this funding."

The 'Frightful Five' has highlighted five egregious examples of fiscal mismanagement in the 2011 proposed budget. This is the final installment of the series.

The full list is available at GeorgiaDemocrat.org under 'Statewide News".           

[1] http://www.opb.state.ga.us/media/12300/state_of_georgia_budget_fy_2011.pdf, p. 332.

[2] http://www.opb.state.ga.us/media/12300/state_of_georgia_budget_fy_2011.pdf, p. 336