BIRMINGHAM - Governor Bob Riley today outlined his plan to fight corruption in government in a speech to the Birmingham Rotaract Club in Downtown Birmingham.

“It seems like almost every week we learn of another State Senator or Representative or local official being indicted or convicted,” Governor Riley said. “It’s to the point where it has almost become routine. A reputation for corruption can threaten our ability to attract businesses to Alabama and create jobs.

“It doesn’t have to be that way. The people of Alabama deserve better. You deserve public servants who uphold the people’s trust. You deserve to have confidence that your government will serve your interests and not the special interests.”

Government Accountability Reform will top the Governor’s legislative agenda for the upcoming Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature, which begins in January. Governor Riley said no other issue threatens Alabama’s future more than the continued, systematic corruption that has plagued state and local governments for decades.

“The old ways of doing business have gone on long enough. I am declaring a ‘War on Corruption’ in Alabama. I ask the people of Alabama to join me in the fight to save our state from the special interests who have ruled over a rotten system for years.

“It’s time to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

The recent placement of Alabama’s “checkbook” online has brought a new level of transparency to state government, but, Governor Riley said, Alabama still has a far to go to achieving true accountability in government.

“Until we have full disclosure and everything is out in the open for the public to see, government will never be truly accountable,” he said. “Our plan makes government at every level - state and local - more open, transparent and accountable than ever before. I am making Government Accountability Reform my number one priority for this session. And because of that - mark my words - every day you’ll hear Democrats attack us. Every day, you’ll see them throwing mud to distract the public and the press from their shameful record on Ethics.”

Governor Riley continued, “It’s going to be an uphill fight because they’ll stop at nothing to distract you. Those who like the system the way it is now - they hate this plan. They don’t want to change. But the voice of the people can be a powerful counterbalance to those fighting to keep things the way they are.”

Governor Riley’s Government Accountability Reform package will:

• Require full disclosure of any gifts, meals, travel, tickets to sporting events, and other things of value provided by lobbyists to public servants and members of their family.

• Require lobbyists to fully disclose to the Ethics Commission any and all financial transactions between lobbyists and public servants and their family.

• Require lobbyists who lobby the executive branch for grants and contracts to register with the Ethics Commission.

• Require public servants and their family to disclose to the Ethics Commission all jobs and consulting contracts they have with any business, nonprofit or other entity that receives public funds, and all household income derived from any state or local government entity or institution.

• Require the Ethics Commission to post on the Internet all lobbyists spending on public servants and their household members. The disclosures would be searchable on the Internet by the name of the public servant and the lobbyist.

• Finally give subpoena power to the Ethics Commission.