Even with all the lip service, ethic questions treated lightly

How are Tennesseans to know if probe of senator was serious or a farce? After Operation Tennessee Waltz rocked the state last year, Tennesseans were promised a serious, transparent process for investigating ethical lapses in government.

Despite months of debate and a special legislative session, there is no evidence the legislature intends to keep that promise.

Consider the case involving Sen. Jerry Cooper, D-McMinnville. The 1999 sale of Cooper’s sawmill was the focus of charges lodged in July against an Alabama couple who bought the mill and a real estate appraiser involved in the transaction. They were charged with fraud and money laundering, accused of inflating the property’s value at the time of the bank loan. The couple pleaded guilty Monday.

The indictment also says that an unindicted co-conspirator, widely known to be Cooper, “used his political contacts, connections and influence” to help obtain the bank loan.

On Oct. 12, the ethics committee asked two members ? Sens. Joe Haynes and Steve Southerland ? to interview Bill Baxter, former Economic and Community Development director, about the grant.

In mid-November Baxter told a reporter he hadn’t been contacted by the senators. He also said that when Cooper sought support for the grant, the senator didn’t mention his personal involvement.

Last week, Southerland and Haynes ? who deliberated behind closed doors ? delivered a letter saying they had found no “probable cause” that Cooper violated ethics rules. Haynes told a reporter they didn’t have to meet publicly because it was dealing with an investigation.

The state’s public meetings law has exceptions for security and for the proposed impeachment of a public official. There is no exception for investigations. Moreover, the investigation into a possible ethical breach by a lawmaker should top the list of meetings that demand to be open.

Cooper’s conduct may or may not constitute a breach of ethics conduct. There is far less doubt, however, about the Senate Ethics Committee’s handling of the matter. Its foot-dragging and secret meetings are proof that it has no intention of giving ethics probes involving its own members the serious treatment they deserve.