FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 2003
Contact: Ricardo Davis,Constitution Party of Georgia
770-924-8546 - info@gaconstitutionparty.org

CONSTITUTION PARTY OF GEORGIA JOINS ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT GROUP IN CALLING FOR SUBSTANTIVE ETHICS REFORM JANUARY 6TH

On Monday, January 6 the Constitution Party of Georgia will join the Ethics in Government Group and other organizations in a press conference to address substantive ethics reform legislation in Georgia. The press conference and rally will begin 11:00 a.m. on the steps of the State Capitol (Washington Street).

Constitution Party of Georgia State Chairman Ricardo Davis noted, "We are encouraged by Governor-elect Perdue's committment to ethics reform in state government by his selection of Brig. Gen. James E. Sehorn to be Georgia's first inspector general yesterday. However, the people of Georgia are looking for action on legislation to expand the responsibilities of the State Ethic Commission to include enforcement of all ethics matters, including conflicts of interest, and increasing the Commission budget to effectively carry out this mission."

"We applaud the Governor-elect's proposal which expands the definition of a lobbyist to include persons seeking to do business with the state or to influence legislative, executive, or regulatory action. In addition, his proposal prohibits elected or appointed officials or employees from lobbying the state or the city or county for which they worked for two years after leaving their positions."

In addition to Governor-elect Perdue's reform proposal, the Constitution Party of Georgia calls upon Mr. Perdue and the House and Senate leadership to support legislation to enact the following reforms:

* Require quarterly disclosure of transactions of the state or local official, their spouse, or dependents with the state or local government and with entities represented by lobbyists. Require disclosure by the the filer, spouse, or dependent children if they serve in a fiduciary position in a business that provides professional services or consultations (e.g., legal, accounting, construction) to state or local governments.

* Require all elected and appointed state officials, including board and commission members, to disclose information pertaining to potential conflicts of interest. Enforcement should include exclusion from participating in decisions where conflicts exist and criminal penalties when the law is thwarted.

* Prohibit candidate's from giving unused campaign contributions to other candidates. The disposition of such funds should be limited to the other current options of returning the money to the donors or giving to an unaffiliated charity.

* Outlaw all elected and appointed officials from receiving gifts from lobbyists, those seeking to do business with the government, those regulated by the official's department or the board or commission on which the official sits, and those who have interests that may be substantially affected by the performance of the official's official duties.

* Prohibit all elected and appointed state and local officials, including legislators, from hiring or having supervisory authority over a close relative. In addition, officials should be prohibited from seeking to influence employment decisions of other governmental bodies when the decisions relate to relatives.

Davis commented, "Wisdom and Justice, two of the three principles in our State Motto, inevitably lead us to the proposed reforms. We applaud George Anderson of the Ethics in Government Group, Bill Bozarth with Common Cause Georgia and Bill Phillips with Citizens for Safe Government for their work in advancing reform. We stand together with them and others on 'The Clean Team' to enact legislation to clean up corruption in our state and local governments, and we encourage you to contact their representatives today and ask them to support our reform proposals."