By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, spent his 10-minute address Monday talking about one issue: legislative corruption.
The Air Force colonel and ex-F-15 fighter pilot made his remarks on the opening day of the 2019 legislative session after being sworn in as Arkansas Senate president pro tempore.
Three days earlier, his former colleague, ex-Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, became the seventh ex-legislator charged with wrongdoing. Five of the others have been convicted, and two are in prison. The sixth, former Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, Hendren’s cousin, has been indicted.
Baker was indicted last Friday, Jan. 11, by a federal grand jury on bribery-related charges. Those relate to former Circuit Judge Michael Maggio of Conway, who is in prison after pleading guilty to reducing a jury verdict against a nursing home operator after receiving campaign donations that Baker facilitated. Baker says he was just raising money and did not ask Maggio to do anything wrong. Unless proven guilty, he’s innocent.
Regardless of the outcome, the Arkansas Legislature certainly has been stained, to use one of Hendren’s descriptions, by these convictions and indictments.
The Legislature has 135 members at a time, and new members are elected every two years, so hundreds serve over the course of a decade. Moreover, the charges against Baker involve activities occurring after he left the Senate.
But five convictions plus two indictments is not an insignificant fraction. Moreover, a long-running investigation by federal authorities along with Attorney General Leslie Rutledge continues, so those numbers could grow.
Clearly, there are too many temptations at the Capitol and too many legislators willing to give in to them. That’s why Hendren was able to say, “Let us begin this session of the General Assembly today with a determination that the culture of greed and corruption is over. We will not participate in it, we will not ignore it, and we will not tolerate those who do.”
The Senate has passed new rules meant to reduce those temptations. One will prohibit senators from voting on matters that benefit themselves, unless they disclose those benefits. The result will probably be a lot of disclosures because legislators are part-time and often serve on committees related to their jobs and areas of expertise.
Meanwhile, a new ethics committee chaired by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, will investigate complaints made by senators against each other, which will happen rarely. The 35-member Senate is a chummy place where making people mad at you won’t help you pass your bills. The most likely senator to file a complaint, former Sen. Brian King, R-Green Forest, who didn’t care if anyone liked him, lost his re-election bid last year.
Meanwhile, legislators have filed a bill that would strip them and other public employees of their retirement benefits if convicted of a felony. Also Senate proceedings for the first time will be televised online. That might help if people watch, but people who commit crimes usually do so when the cameras are off.
The reality is, billions of dollars float around the Capitol. Meanwhile, legislators leave their homes and businesses for months at a time to engage in public service that doesn’t pay a lot of money; it is, after all, a “public service.” A fellow or lady can start to think themselves both important and entitled.
No tweak will create a perfect system. Some people will break the rules. Eventually, some get caught. Some.
But culture can accomplish what rules and systems cannot. People often don’t do bad things largely because they are socially unacceptable, regardless of whether or not they’re illegal, and likewise will break the rules if society says it’s OK. Many of us have no problem exceeding the speed limit, even though it’s against the law and leads to accidents, partly for that reason.
That’s why the spirit behind Hendren’s speech matters quite a bit. Few senators will tattle on each other to that new ethics committee. But it’s the culture that largely will determine whether any would have to.