House to investigate ethics complaint against DeBerry

The committee’s decision preceded the delivery of recommendations to Gov. Phil Bredesen by an advisory committee to strenghthen ethics laws and hopefully restore the public’s confidence in government that’s been overshadowed by recent corruption cases.

State Rep. Lois DeBerry has not been charged in the Tennessee Waltz bribery scandal that has landed five current and former lawmakers in federal court.

DeBerry has said that she did nothing illegal, wrong or immoral. She did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Thursday.

The House Ethics Committee decided Thursday it is interested in allegations that a federal agent courted her during a trip to a Tunica casino and gave her $200 and wished her a “happy birthday.” The man was an undercover agent posing as an executive of E-Cycle Management Inc., a company concocted by the FBI as part of its sting.

The House Ethics Committee has the authority to recommend a wide range of punishments if it finds wrongdoing, up to expulsion from the House. The full House would have to vote on any recommendation.

Before deciding to pursue an investigation, though, Republicans and Democrats played a careful match of gamesmanship in setting the scope of their inquiry.

New House Minority Leader Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, said the Democrats were trying to restrict the scope of the investigation by not agreeing to ask for FBI investigation records on the Tunica trip.

“I was very frustrated,” he said. “I thought I was asking something that made perfect sense.”

Dunn said Democrats “seemed to already have their mind made up as though they already kind of knew what they wanted to come out of the meeting and they steered everything toward that outcome.”

Later on Thursday Bredesen received a long list of proposed new ethics and campaign finance laws from the Citizen Advisory Group on Ethics.

One recommendation was the creation of an independent state ethics commission that would be charged with establishing the ethical standards for service in state government.

But the strongest recommendations were levied against lobbyists. Among the suggestions, the panel said lobbyists should disclose payments received for lobbying activities, ban contingency fees for lobbyists, and provide a “cooling off period” of at least a year before any leading officials who leave public office can lobby state government.

“I’m confident that, using these recommendations as a guide, we will develop and implement meaningful changes in the operation of state government and, in the process, begin restoring the public’s confidence in its elected officials,” Bredesen said.

Dunn did not attend the committee’s meeting with the governor, but he issued a statement saying he’s “pleased the group has chosen to address a wide array of ethics proposals and I am eager to see the governor adopt many of these.”

“These were each brought before the House last session by Republicans, but Democrats unfortunately defeated each during committee hearings,” Dunn said. “It is my hope that the governor will bring his party alongside these sound proposals.”

A state law prohibits legislators from taking gifts from lobbyists or companies that employ lobbyists, but the FBI front company, called E-Cycle, never registered anyone as a lobbyist. A legal memo prepared by a legislative lawyer said DeBerry did not violate the law.

The decision to determine if DeBerry broke House ethics rules came on the same day that another elected official was charged in the ongoing Tennessee Waltz bribery scandal. On Thursday, Hamilton County Commissioner William Cotton was charged and surrendered to agents at his home.