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What Others Say While there is a lot of political posturing going on, state taxpayers could be the ultimate winners if the give and take between Democratic Party officials and the state's top elected Republican succeeds in getting the Legislature to adopt a tough new disclosure law involving state aircraft. State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham this week called on Gov. Bob Riley and the state Legislature to pass a law requiring the prompt disclosure of all flight records for state planes. Turnham is a little late in joining the chorus for such a law -- this editorial page has made similar suggestions in the past, as have politicians from both sides of the political aisle, including Riley. Turnham's real contribution to the public debate was a catchy new name for an old proposal -- the "Plane Truth Law." The latest call for a disclosure law comes after Riley's campaign failed for months to reimburse the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for the cost of a trip to a campaign event. Only after it was reported by the Birmingham News did the campaign reimburse ADEM $760.75 for the trip. A Riley spokesman said the failure to pay was an oversight that occurred after the ADEM plane was substituted at the last minute and the governor's office was not sent a bill by the agency. That excuse simply won't fly. It is the governor's responsibility to ensure that either he personally or his campaign reimburses the state's taxpayers whenever he or his staff use a state plane for political purposes. Riley's staff was amiss in letting this slide by for so long. But it is ironic that Riley is coming under criticism for this situation because he has done more than any state elected official in memory to publicly disclose his use of state aircraft. Each quarter, his office routinely posts online when and where he and his staff fly on state planes. He also posts expenditures from the governor's contingency fund. The latest flap mirrors an earlier public debate after Rep. Marc Keahey, D-Grove Hill, sponsored a resolution instructing the state Examiners of Public Accounts to subpoena the flight logs of aircraft used by the governor and to audit those logs. The resolution never passed, probably because it was clearly designed more to embarrass Riley than to require real disclosure. Political posturing aside, there is a very real need for a strict state law to require full public disclosure whenever state aircraft are used. That includes who flies on them, why the flights are necessary, where the aircraft go, and costs of the flights. Those logs should then be posted in a timely manner on the Web sites of the agencies responsible for the planes. Finally, there should be annual audits of the use of every state plane to ensure that all uses were accurately reported. An exception might be made in the case of sensitive industrial recruitment trips. But agencies should be required to post even those after the recruitment effort has run its course. The "Plane Truth Law" has a ring to it, but no matter what it is called or who takes credit for it, the state taxpayers deserve to have a law that requires that detailed flight logs of all state aircraft be regularly posted online and that annual audits be conducted to monitor the use of all state planes. To see disclosure reports on the use of state aircraft by the Governor's Office, go to the following site and click on "Flight Logs": www.governor.state.al.us
The Montgomery Advertiser
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