State legislators in Georgia are drafting a variety of ethics reform proposals, but it seems that one of their biggest challenges is simply to get state officials to obey existing ethics rules. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

As Georgia’s inspector general, Elizabeth Archer roots out waste, corruption and favoritism in state government. So, Archer said, it was a bit of an embarrassment last month to learn she hadn’t filed her 2008 disclosure of personal finances. The one required by state law.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, I’ve always done this,'" she said. "It’s just one of those things."

Archer filed the disclosure Jan. 14, shortly after a complaint was lodged. But hundreds of other government officials — legislators, department heads, men and women serving on boards and commissions — still haven’t submitted disclosures that were due last July. Countless politicians also failed to report their campaign finances on time — or at all.

I don't know what the penalty is in Georgia for state officials who file their disclosure reports late or not at all. But something tells me it probably isn't a painful fine if so many officials are willing to ignore disclosure rules.

The article includes a comment by Bill Bozarth, executive director of Common Cause of Georgia, who puts it in perspective:

"It doesn’t really matter what the laws are if they can’t be enforced."

Just about everyone who visits New York City for the first time has the same observation: from meals to museums, everything tends to be expensive. But who knew a bagel sandwich and a diet soda cost $177?

This editorial in yesterday's New York Times reports on Larry Seabrook, a city councilman in the Bronx who sought a $177 reimbursement from public funds for that meal. Seabrook has been indicted on 13 counts of corruption.

Other elected officials in New York are being investigated -- either by the state's attorney general or federal officials -- for misappropriating public funds. The lesson, writes the Times, is that serious reform is needed:

... it is just too hazardous to give politicians their own pots of money, especially in difficult economic times. It is time to end these slush funds in the city and in Albany. The money should go where it’s most needed, not where it’s most politically fruitful.

While she was Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin faced numerous allegations of ethics violations -- charges she called frivolous and cited as one of her reasons for resigning from office last year. Now the ethics reforms proposed by the state's attorney general are being criticized by those who filed ethics complaints against Palin.

These former critics of Palin say ethics reforms should be drafted and debated by legislators, not created by Attorney General Dan Sullivan without a vote.

One person testifying before a legislative committee raised concern that the state Personnel Board -- whose members are appointed by the governor -- is not sufficiently independent to ensure that state officials comply with ethics rules. A state legislator echoed this concern, saying that the Personnel Board and top state officials may have "too close of a relationship."

One of Florida's largest newspapers welcomes the state legislature's pursuit of ethics reform. In this recent editorial, the Sun Sentinel offers lawmakers some advice:

... the Legislature would be smart to improve the U.S. "honest services" law with a detailed Florida version rather than to copy the federal one. The federal law has served anti-corruption efforts well, but it appears headed for possible undoing by the U.S. Supreme Court for constitutionality concerns.

The newspaper says the legislature should be more than capable of writing a new ethics law that is specific enough to survive any constitutional or other legal challenges:

If the state can delineate a whole book of driving statutes that dictate everything from when to use your headlights to where to park your car, surely it can specify what warrants a range of criminal behavior for public officials, from voting on issues where there's a personal financial stake to accepting bags stuffed with cash in exchange for a vote.

In fact, those are such no-brainer acts of criminal conduct, it's almost laughable that they're not already outlawed by state statute, and it says something about a neglectful Legislature that they're not.

Some residents of North Carolina may be wondering if their state's two-digit postal code (NC) actually stands for Neverending Corruption.

In the past six years, corruption convictions have produced prison sentences for North Carolina's House Speaker, its agriculture commissioner and a state representative. Last week, a federal grand jury investigating former Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, issued 51 indictments of Easley's top adviser. More indictments may be coming.

If the state is going to get tough on corruption and strengthen its ethics laws, the Fayetteville Observer has some advice for legislators: take a bipartisan approach. In this editorial today, the newspaper writes:

Greed and corruption are nonpartisan traits. We need a bipartisan effort to prevent politicians of any stripe from indulging in them.

David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama-Biden in 2008, is urging congressional Democrats to take ethics reform seriously or else they could pay the price in November.

In his Washington Post op-ed on Sunday, Plouffe cited the same Gallup poll that was cited by CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan in her Jan. 14 column on the Huffington Post. Sloan expressed concern that the 2010 election "may be shaping up as a return to same old, same old" because several ethically challenged current or ex-officeholders are running or considering runs for Congress or governor. She wrote:

... those who assume that in the post-Abramoff era Americans no longer are concerned about ethics should think again. Two months ago, for the first time since Gallup began polling on the issue, a majority of Americans rated the honesty and ethics of members of Congress as either low or very low. Even car salespeople were ranked better.

In his op-ed, Plouffe cited ethics reform as a key issue in this election year -- one that Democrats must take seriously or risk suffering a major defeat in November. Plouffe wrote:

"Change" is not just about policies. ... we have to make sure the freshman and sophomore members of the House who won in part on transparency and (ethics) reform issues can show they are delivering. The Republicans will suggest they have changed their spots, but the GOP cannot hold a candle to us on reform issues. Let's make sure we own this space.

The Huffington Post reports:

Hordes of lobbyists have deregistered in the last two years after Congress enacted more onerous disclosure requirements and the Obama administration put in place a series of anti-lobbyist policies. But that doesn't mean there's been less lobbying.

In fact, we'll likely find out this week (when fourth-quarter reports are filed) that the influence industry beat its all-time record for lobbying revenue in 2009.

Huffington's story included this assessment by CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan:

"This is the consequence of the Obama administration demonizing lobbyists and so the result is more and more deregistration. It's an unsurprising reaction to the administration's efforts to make lobbying less and less palatable."

The package of ethics reform that the state legislature in New York has drafted are a good start, but this editorial in today's New York Times complains that:

... the plan is not the full-fledged housecleaning necessary for a place that has gone too long without the slightest dusting of reform.

And the Times editorial also criticizes the package for not adequately addressing the issue of lawmakers' outside income:

The (current) proposal would mandate more disclosure, including requirements that lawmakers list income ranges to $1 million or more. That is a clear improvement, but there is a big hole: exemptions for the Legislature’s lawyers, including Mr. Silver, who would not be required to list clients. That is wrong. A lawmaker’s first obligation is to the public, not the clients.

Let's hope other newspapers and commentators join the Times in urging legislators to set a high bar for ethics reform.

Three years ago, Americans heard promises that Congressional leaders would "drain the swamp" and usher in a post-Tom Delay era of high ethical standards. Needless to say, that hasn't happened.

As USA Today reports, over this three-year period:

... allegations of sexual misconduct and financial impropriety have been lodged against lawmakers. The most serious rebuke in the past year: a "letter of qualified admonition" to Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., after the Senate ethics panel concluded he misled lawmakers and inappropriately offered to raise campaign funds for then-governor Rod Blagojevich as Burris sought the Senate appointment.

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said it best -- telling USA Today: "Three years later, it's the same old, same old."

Today's New York Times reviews Gov. David Paterson's State of the State address in this editorial, describing New York as "saddled with a Legislature that is incompetent in its governance and corrupt in its behavior."

The newspaper applauds Gov. Paterson for urging legislators to "attack economics and ethics at the same time." The governor's ethics reform proposals, writes The Times, will help to "tackle the pay-to-play culture" in New York. And the editorial also praises Paterson's call for "a truly independent ethics commission to oversee all branches of the government."

Do these ethics reforms have a real chance of passing the state legislature? Stay tuned.