NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Following an ethics investigation that determined that he should not have depended on an outside organization to pay for the trip, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has reimbursed around $1,900 for a conference trip.
According to the Tennessee Ethics Commission’s conclusion, which was made public on Tuesday, the payment was in violation of a state rule that prohibits public servants, including the governor, from taking gifts from lobbyists or their employers. Following criticism of his July trip to Florida, the Republican governor had asked for the commission’s judgment.
Lee’s journey to Marco Island, Florida, to serve as the keynote speaker at a conference organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom was originally reported by The Tennessean. The 501(c)3 nonprofit conservative Christian legal advocacy group has a 501(c)4 companion organization called ADF Action. Tennessee is home to a registered lobbyist for ADF Action.
Following the publication of the ethical ruling, Lee spokesperson Elizabeth Lane Johnson stated that the costs associated with the trip to the well-known resort island off the Gulf Coast of southwest Florida had been reimbursed in accordance with the new guidelines.
Johnson stated on Tuesday, “We appreciate the Bureau’s response to our request for clarification regarding their interpretation of this ambiguous law.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which funded Lee’s trip to Florida, does not have a lobbyist in Tennessee, according to Lee’s office, but ADF Action does. According to his office, there are operational and legal distinctions between the two groups, and they are autonomous and distinct entities.
Nonetheless, the Ethics Commission concluded that the two organizations are interconnected and intimately associated. The Alliance Defending Freedom also employs the ADF Action lobbyist, who was present at the summit where Lee spoke, the panel said. Although the groups have a shared services agreement that commits them to sharing and compensating one another for services rendered, they chose not to submit the document for the Ethics Commission’s consideration.
The commission concluded that the travel fees constituted an illegal indirect gift from a lobbyist’s employer in the state due to the connections between the two organizations. They asked Lee to return the money and praised him for getting the opinion.
According to the opinion, if officials were to accept the group’s payment for the governor’s trip, it would create a huge loophole in the ethics law on gifts, allowing lobbying groups to use a related business to lavish gifts on Tennessee officials and negating the purpose of the ban on indirect gifts. Consequently, the public’s trust in the government will be weakened, it stated.
According to the ethics opinion, ADF Action supports governmental policies that uphold the sanctity of life and marriage, parental rights, freedom of expression, and religion.
Nashville Democratic Representative Caleb Hemmer praised the Ethics Commission for demonstrating that the governor is subject to the law.
Hemmer stated, “It’s disappointing that these actions occurred at all.” It is my hope that this advisory opinion will prevent lobbying organizations from influencing the Lee Administration by providing these unlawful and unethical vacations.
A bill that was adopted by lawmakers and Lee this year that required parental authorization for a range of actions in schools, including non-emergency medical and mental health care, was one of Alliance Defending Freedom’s goals in Tennessee.
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