Study Report Of The Alabama Ethics Commission

Author : James R. Lambert
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 86 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (842 download)

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Download or read book Ethics in Alabama Government written by James R. Lambert and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically public officials have wielded a great deal of power. In many cases this power was offered for sale to others or coerced into sale. The people deserve better. Citizens deserve a fair and honest government. About 40 years ago, following the Watergate scandal, states began thinking in terms of ethics in government. Now, most states and many localities have ethics laws. Some states also have ethics commissions set up to administer these laws. Alabama is such a state. Alabama has an Ethics Law and an Ethics Commission set up to enforce it. Alabama's Ethics Law was first enacted in 1973, and underwent major changes in 1995 and again in 2010-2011. The Alabama Ethics Commission does a good job interpreting and enforcing the Ethics Law, but the Commission is limited by the law itself. Over the past 40 years, the Ethics Law has undergone several changes, with each change resulting in a better law. As with most laws, however, it could still be made more efficient and effective. There are still Alabama State and local officials (as well as citizens) who are not aware the Ethics Law exists. In addition, some of those who are aware of the Law's existence do not know what it says. There are still other officials who know but do not care. Finally, there are officials who believe that the Ethics Law applies to everyone but them. As a result, there need to be better ways to expose officials to the Ethics Law, and better ways to enforce the Ethics Law when it is violated. This paper will explore the history of the Alabama Ethics Law, the current state of the Law in Alabama as well as in some other states, and will make some recommendations on possible improvements to make the Alabama Ethics Law more efficient and more effective. Keywords: Economic Crime Management, Professor Suzanne Lynch, compliance, corruption, investigation, reform, transparency.