Tuscaloosa News

Published Friday, July 20, 2007
ADEM director’s actions ill-advised

We don’t know whether Alabama Department of Environmental Management Director Trey Glenn’s latest foul-up was a case of willful arrogance or simple stupidity.

One thing is for certain, however. The case underscores the need for tougher ethics laws in Alabama.

Glenn -- already under investigation for possible ethics violations -- was the guest of Alabama Power, one of the utilities that ADEM regulates, at Sunday’s Montgomery Biscuits baseball game. He took free tickets from the power company and sat in its corporate box.

Glenn says there was no problem because it was his mother, Wetumpka Mayor Jo Glenn, who actually got the invitation. He was just there for the ride -- along with a lobbyist for the power company, who sat in the box with Glenn.

After the incident was aired in the state news media, the utility reported to the Alabama Ethics Commission that it spent $310 entertaining Glenn and his family at the baseball game.

That lets Alabama Power off the hook.

Anyone who spends $250 or more on a public official has to report the expense to the ethics commission. But there is no limit on spending on regulators like Glenn as long as it’s declared.

That provision of the law is the most liberal of its kind in the U.S. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

There is precious little public confidence in ADEM in any event. It is viewed widely as an accomplice of big business.

The fact that Glenn is being investigated for ethics violations for accepting large gifts and for possible irregularities in the way he was hired at ADEM only makes Sunday’s incident worse. Trust may not be the only quality in short supply at the top of the environmental agency.