Corruption in government is a tremendous problem. While it is, fortunately, a fairly rare occurrence, corruption undermines public confidence in our system of governance. Without the confidence of the people, the system could ultimately fail. That is why Governor Sonny Perdue pledged during his campaign to institute the highest ethical standards for all government officials, agencies and programs. One of the ideas bandied about during the campaign was for the concept of a grand jury on some greater scale than simply a county grand jury.
I was appointed by Governor Perdue to serve as a member on the Grand Jury Task Force to study whether Georgia needs to enact changes in the grand jury system. That Task Force will be conducting a public hearing in Atlanta this week, on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Supreme Court building. The purpose of the hearing is to obtain input from the public at large and from governmental officials as to the need for changes to the grand jury system as well as potential problems which might be created if changes are made.
Here is perceived problem: If a public official is corrupt, particularly in small counties, the perception is that they are un-indictable because of their influence in that small county (which I’ll call Small County). Since the grand jury of Small County would be the only county that could, under current law, indict that public official, and if the corrupt official is beloved in his home county, even though he is considered corrupt, that official could go unpunished. There are numerous instances where that has allegedly taken place, so apparently this is a real problem.
Now if the corruption is enough of a problem that a federal law has been broken, the federal grand jury for that district (composing many counties), could hear the case and hand down an indictment. But that supposes that a federal law has been broken, and that means that Georgia is admitting we can’t clean up our own government. I personally don’t want to have to depend on the feds to take care of home business.
The proposals on the table include state-wide grand juries, district wide grand juries (with the district being made up of the counties that are part of what Georgia deems a judicial administrative district), or that the local district attorney could elect any adjoining county or judicial circuit to bring the indictment in. But just obtaining the indictment might not be enough. There would still be the issue of a trial, and if the trial happens in the corrupt officials home county, you would still have the same problem.
The meeting on Wednesday will begin the process of publicly discussing these concepts and issues. Everyone is invited, but if you can’t make the trip, don’t worry. I’ll report back to you what is discussed and where the process is headed.
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