Monday, May 18, 2009
Politics / Woods State's Ethics Czar Is Fired, Adding to the Turmoil Surrounding His Agency
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:25 PM
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The state's ethics czar, Bruce Androphy, has just been fired. As Androphy watched glumly, the Ethics Commission voted 5-1 for his dismissal, claiming the agency's executive director is running an inept and inefficient operation.
"I'm trying to leave with my head held high," Androphy said afterward, declining to cast any aspersions at his critics.
The entire commission soon may join Androphy in joblessness. The legislature is thinking about abolishing the commission, which was formed after the Operation Tennessee Waltz bribery scandal to enforce new ethics laws and regulate lobbying. Unless both the Senate and House act to extend it, after June 30 it will cease to exist and its duties merge with those of another agency, the Registry of Election Finance. Legislation to keep it alive was put off last week by the government operations committees in both houses.
Androphy, hired from New York in 2006, long has feuded with two commission members--Linda Knight and Dianne Neal. But he enjoyed the support of the four other commissioners. This year, though, new members have replaced three of his backers.
"I had a good job in New York," an obviously stunned Androphy said during the meeting. "I feel I came here to do a job. I certainly did the best job I think was possible. I'm very proud of the work that was done here."
A new commissioner, Charles Farmer, led the move to fire Androphy. "This is my third meeting and we've been dealing with the same things over and over," he said. "The email exchanges, the difficulty is getting things on the agenda--it's pretty clear this commission has not operated very well. There is obvious friction between members of the commission and members of the staff. When I see a problem with staff, the accountable person is the manager of the staff."
Everyone, including the six commission members, agree the agency is screwed up. When lobbyists or lawmakers pose ethics questions, commissioner Nathaniel Goggans said, the agency's response often is "inaccurate, obstructive, untimely or not even an answer at all." It sometimes takes a couple hours for the commission to approve meeting minutes. Commissioners squabble among themselves and routinely engage in endless hand-wringing over minutiae. The issue is who's to blame--the staff or the commission itself. At today's meeting, commission chairman Larry Brown, Androphy's only supporter, blamed his fellow commissioners.
"I do not believe this commission has given the staff the authority to do their job," he said.
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