21. Hawks are more than Ethics Violations.

 In 2005, State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, and I offered amendments to the Governor’s Ethics Package that were voted down by the Republican members of the committee. We also introduced a similar comprehensive measure in 2006, HB 47, but House Republican leaders buried it in committee and never gave it a hearing.  

In fact,

the House Ethics Committee, 

where the bill was assigned, 

never even met that year.

     We will try to pass a similar measure again this year, but the lobbyist's expenses are not the only issue at stake in the level of corruption that has taken control of the leadership of the General Assembly.
      The Hawks (Blog 19.) allow the massive corruption that has taken down the Speaker and a continuing list of legislators. With the Hawk system the Speaker and his Hawks can change the vote on any bill in committee. The power that should be evenly distributed to the entire House of 180 members was allowed to exist in a handful of self-appointed legislators controlled by the Speaker. Democracy or Dictatorship? Who would have thought Georgia would produce the greatest threat to democracy in America? Will the true reform needed to give Georgians back their representative government come forth from this latest shake-up? That remains to be seen.


See DuBose in Fox 5 video below
New Ethics Laws Expected for Ga. House
Updated: Wednesday, 09 Dec 2009, 10:53 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 09 Dec 2009, 10:53 PM EST

Edited By: Leigha Baugham | myfoxatlanta.com
Paul Yates reporting