Issue Position: Ethics

Issue Position

My father taught me that integrity is doing the right thing when you know no one is watching. When I served in the armed forces, ethics and integrity were the coin of the realm. Unfortunately, politicians don't all live up to the high standard the public has a right to demand. Because of Georgia's weak ethics laws, often no one is watching when our political leaders misbehave.

Georgia has no legal limit to the kind and value of gifts that politicians can take from lobbyists. When an ethics violation is adjudicated, the penalties are absurdly mild. Bad acts aren't punished and violators aren't shamed. We have to change the law so that the public can regain trust.

I have been a champion of ethics reform since coming to the General Assembly, working to improve ethics legislation and voting against efforts to weaken the poor laws we have now. We need rules that make it plain to everybody that anyone holding public office in Georgia must put the people's interests first. If a politician can't support rules like that, he or she shouldn't hold office.

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