Fed Up
When Rep. Jack Venable, Chairman of the House Rules Committee, passed away a few months before the 2006 session of the legislature, it was obvious to all that there would be a tremendous leadership void in the House. A true statesman and a public servant, his easy manner had a soothing effect on his peers. I believe the current Rules Chairman, Rep. Ken Guin has proven to be his polar opposite.
Rep. Guin has been instrumental in creating interesting material for the Pulitzer Prize winning Birmingham News Reporter Brett Blackledge, by receiving an annual $100,000 part-time payoff from the two year college system. I’m sure his prior failure to report the $100,000 on his ethics form was merely an oversight. Since it’s been widely reported, he has since filed an amended form.
He is also one of the most partisan pit-bull attack dogs in the Democrat party. He is a smart, cunning, and ruthless politcal operative. In addition to being the Rules Chairman (controlling the flow of legislation in the House), he is also the Majority (Democrat) leader in the House.
Last week, he pushed me too far and now I’m pushing back. Last Wednesday in the Constitution and Elections Committee, I had a bill (HB647) that would require anyone spending raising money in an election to disclose it before that election. This was a companion bill to a Senate bill introduced by Sen. Orr to address the confusion that resulted in dueling lawsuits after the 2006 election. After Rep. Guin was outvoted three time in his attempt block the bill in committee, he let me know in no uncertain terms that the bill would not come to the floor. That was aggravating, but that’s not why I’m ready to go to war.
A few weeks ago, I introduced HB510, a simple bill that would merely require all state elected officials or their spouses to report any state employment or state contracts to the secretary of state to be posted on the internet. The State Government Committee made the bill better by including children and step-children. It breezed out of the committee.
My friend Rep. Cam Ward, who is a member of the Rules Committee, agreed to give this bill priority in getting on the Special Order Calender for debate and a vote on the House floor. Rep. Guin has arbitrarily chosen to remove this bill from consideration. I am outraged that that he would have the gall to block HB510.
I did not draft or introduce HB510 with the intention of penalizing or punishing anyone. I did it in a non-partisan manner with the intent of bring some light where there had been confusion. I know there are many Democrats and Republicans who support this bill, as well as many who would be required to report under the bill’s provisions. They are not ashamed of their state employment.
This is the last straw, I’m fed up. I hope that I’m not the only legislator that’s fed up.
- Capstone Report links to this post with Ethics Problem
- Doc’s Political Parlor links to this post with Rep. Ball: “This is the last straw, I’m fed up
- The Alabama Moderate links to this post with The image I will never get out of my head
- This post is featured in the Alabama Bloggers Carnival #6
Comment by Brian
If Ken Guin was my Rep…
Well, let’s just say he would be catching hell from me and would not be running unopposed - ever.
I’m particularly miffed about HB510 as well. I thought Riley’s plan to stop double dipping was heavy handed since I can think of times when an elected official could, for example, EARN his pay teaching classes. The plan you proposed was reasonable and would be an effective deterrent to the type of wanton fleecing like Mr. Guin perpetrated against the people of this state (and he continues to do so).
Legislators like him actually make me want to move into another district for the sole reason of running against them, or at the least, voting against them.
Comment by Anonymous
Well when it comes to people like Guin and Barron over in the senate. Keep that old saying about “what goes comes around” in mind.
Comment by Capstone
Wow, Rep. Guin blocking ethics reform. That’s a shocker. Thanks for shinning the spotlight on this nefarious conduct.
Comment by Tim
Mike - Your buddy Troy King hasn’t done a thing to investigate people like Guin. In fact, King hasn’t done anything to enforce the ethics laws. Jim Sumner and staff could gain ground in King and his office would take ethics violations seriously and not be swayed by politics.
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[…] And Rep. Guin is taking every opportunity to obstruct ethics reform. […]
Comment by NotTwinkle
I’ll stipulate that Ken Guin is a pretty harball guy who’s got some questionable things going on with the 2 year system.
But Mike Ball shouldn’t act like the GOPers aren’t doing all they can to stoke the 2 year scandal fire for purely political reasons. Bills like HB 510 are good legislation but the reason they are being filed now as opposed to previously (Ball’s been in the legislature since 2003) is just to generate more headlines in the 2 year situation.
And finally I’d think more of Ball’s altruism were he not employing the standard GOP attack line of “Democrat party”. President Bush apologized when he did it, acknowledging it is disrespectful. Cut it out Mike and you’ll have more credibility.
Comment by Mike Ball
The situation in the two year college system hasn’t needed GOP help to generate headlines. I filed HB510 because the thought occured to me after learning of some of the questionable practices. It was not intended to stoke the fire, but to pour water on the fire by getting everything in the open and moving on. I did not attempt to make it a partisan bill, and there are more than a few Democrats who support it. I did not know the word, “Democrat” was offensive to Democrats.
Comment by Capstone
Questionable things?
Yeah, getting paid for not doing any work is “questionable” only in the perverse world of Montgomery. I think the rest of the state would call it fraud and corruption and worthy of expulsion from the legislature.
Comment by Mike Ball
It really isn’t questionable to me, either. I was trying to be as tactful as possible, while I vent my frustration.
Comment by NotTwinkle
Also if you do believe that Ken Guin has broken the law then it is up to AG King or the Bush Justice Department to hold him accountable.
Comment by Anon
When someone uses “Democrat” as an adjective, like “Democrat Party,” I just always kinda felt sorry for them. Figured they never learned about things like differences between adjectives and nouns. Hard to get mad at someone who just doesn’t know any better.
Comment by Don
Even a long time friend of Guin’s, the senior writer of the Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle Ed Howell, has come to realize that Guin is a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution (see http://www.mountaineagle.com/N.....742+cr=gdn).
As soon as I learned that Speaker Hammett had made Guin chair of the Rules Committee I knew that a lot of real reform and accountability bills would not be passed if Hammett didn’t want them passed. He put Guin into that position to make sure of that.
As Representative Ward explained @ http://www.politicalparlor.net.....#comments, “The Chairman has a lot of power in this process by virtue of being the Chairman. He has final say in where on the calendar a bill is placed..” and, “Now I can tell you that the chairman can make a lot of decisions by himself that he does not have to consult the committee. This is similar to the Rules Committee in the Senate. The Rules chairman is allowed to do a lot of things with bills like put them in the order he wants or block them without a committee meeting. Just part of the process.”
The question is whether or not there is any hope of being able to change that process in the Rules Committees of both chambers of the legislature.
I wonder if Ed Howell would publish what Representative Ball posted here, or if the editors of other newspapers likely to be read by Guin’s constituents such as The Tuscaloosa News and The Birmingham News would publish it. Or would talk radio program hosts in or near Guin’s District discuss with their listeners how Guin is stopping reform legislation? Guin’s constituents need to know what the guy they elected to do the people’s business is actually doing to maintain the status quo.
And Speaker Hammett’s constituents need to know that Guin can do what he does because Hammett gave him the job of Rules Committee chair.
Comment by Don
It’s Guin’s constituents that need to become fed up with his antics because they can get rid of him in 2010.
Comment by Mike Ball
I don’t know the status of any AG or Justice Department investigation. I guess I don’t always know how to use nouns and adjectives properly. But I know what Rep. Guin did to HB510. I know that I don’t like it. And I believe giving my colleagues an opportunity to vote for (or against) this bill is worth fighting for.
Our two-year college system is a tremendous asset to this state. I received my A.S. degree from Jeff State in ‘82 when I was a midnight shift Trooper and later earned my B.S. at Athens State University. I know the two-year system provides educational opportunites for Alabamians that would be otherwise be unavailable. I grieve the negative publicity the two-year system has received.
Of course, I’m a Republican and Rep. Guin is a Democrat and the legislature is a political arena. But I don’t think this issue splits entirely along party lines. I believe my support on this issue will be bi-partisan. I know Republican and Democrat(ic?) legislators who are disgusted. What I don’t know is how many of those will be willing to stand up to the powerful Rules Chairman.
Comment by Capstone
Quick, everyone! Rep. Ball may have used incorrect grammar. Let’s focus on that instead of the unethical conduct by the Democratic Majority Leader.
Yeah, that is a better use of our time.
Of course, that is typical political behavior. When you can’t defend the conduct, attack the messenger.
Comment by Brian
Well put, Capstone. Democrats are so quick to get offended over being called Democrats that their omission of stern criticism for Guin is tantamount to tacit approval. If the harshest thing you can say about Guin’s flagrant abuse of our two year system for his personal enrichment is that it is “questionable” then you need to have your head examined.
Is the GOP “stoking the 2 year scandal fire?” Sure, but the Dems (spearheaded by Hubbert) shouldn’t have set so many damn fires for the GOP to stoke! I bet the individuals whining about this political fire being “stoked” haven’t lamented the Democrats stoking the large number of fires set by the Bush admin. How about this: there are plenty of members of both parties who are corrupt, incompetent, and insincere. Quit categorically defending one group and impugning the other at every stop and judge each scandal on its own merits.
What is going on in the two year system is beyond the pale. Whether you have a pachyderm or an ass on your bumper sticker, you should be livid about any politician getting what amount to rental fees from our community colleges.
Comment by Dan
The paramount issue to me is how much power some individuals in both houses have. The chamber leaders (Speaker and Pro Tem) and the committee chairmen, from what I’ve observed, seem to have unilateral authority to kill any legislation.
I think we see the bad effects of these rules in Ken Guin. A man who is the current focus of the two-year scandal unilaterally killed legislation that was meant to prevent (or at least shed light on) the type of scandal he was implicated in. It just seems odd — he is probably the last person in ALABAMA that should be able to decide if this bill should be considered.
My two cents on previous comments:
A lot of people use the word “Democrat” as an adjective to distinguish between the party and the political philosophy. If you say, for example, that something is a Democratic reform, it’s hard to know if you mean “a reform of, by, and for the people,” or “A reform by Lowell Barron.” I didn’t realize it was offensive until I heard some people complaining about Bush using the term.
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Comment by c.a. Marks
I couldn’t find a trackback URI for all of your individual submissions.
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[…] Of course, it’s probably just a Alabama native who works for the feds. But maybe, just maybe, Mike Balls’ frustration at Ken Guin has led a curious investigator to our blog and he’s been spending at least 14 minutes thinking it over. But really, it’s probably either just an Alabama native or someone’s investigating me for talking bad about the government. […]
Comment by Anonymous
I don’t know why no one is talking about the Senate’s notice provision as explored in the Opelika newspaper this past week. Big story during the week and then an editorial on Sunday.