I understand Nielsen ratings show that wrestling on television is extremely popular, although I can never find anyone to admit to watching it. It must be those people in Alabama who skew the ratings that way. For the many readers who know nothing about wrestling and wrestlers, let me first explain that two books most recently on the New York Times top ten best-sellers list were authored by wrestlers. One that has just now slipped off the list after being on it for months is “Have a Nice Day!” by Mick Foley, also known at various times as Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love. The other is “The Rock Says ...” by, who else?, the Rock himself (whose actual name is revealed as Dwayne Johnson). If you don't believe me, you can look this up on amazon.com or the Sunday paper. Don't look for the fiction list: these books are in the hardcover non-fiction list!

You don't understand life unless you understand wrestling. I bring this up because a news report I first saw in last Saturday's AJC informed us that the State Ethics Commission had just dismissed two complaints related to last fall's SPLOST vote. These were complaints against the Fayette County Board of Realtors and the committee formed to promote the SPLOST vote.

When I saw this decision, and reflected on other past decisions of the State Ethics Commission relating to SPLOST, I immediately thought of wrestling referees. In wrestling (for those of you who don't know), you have good guys and bad guys. Quite often, they are paired, two against two, in tag team matches. One team member stays in the corner while his partner wrestles, and they switch with their partner whenever they can tag. That's the theory. In practice, the two bad guys arrange for the referee to be distracted, while one or both of them beat up on one of the good guys. (That's what it looks like anyway.) Oftentimes, the referee will take it upon himself to give a stern and lengthy lecture to one of the good guys, with his back turned to the ring, while the two bad guys mercilessly beat up his hapless partner in full view of the crowd.

I don't mean to offend the honorable members of the State Ethics Commission when I tell you that their giving a lecture to one of our fellow citizens on the evils of not putting an identifying tag on phone calls alerting people to the SPLOST vote, while letting all the pro-SPLOST people get away with all they did, reminds me of wrestling, with the commission in the role of referee. So often, in our society, the little fellow who runs afoul of the law in some minor way gets five years in the pokey, while the scoundrel who embezzles millions gets away with probation or less. Some events simply defy understanding. Or belief.

When I last looked up the names of the members of the State Ethics Commission in the State Bar directory, I found they were all lawyers. The law creating the commission states there should be five members, but not all five show up for hearings, and I suspect there may be an unfilled vacancy on the board.

Three members are appointed by the governor, but they cannot all be from the same political party. One member is appointed by the lieutenant governor, and one by the speaker of the House. The appointment is for four years. For the five years preceding their appointment, they cannot have run for public office. (They don't have to be lawyers.) Section 21-5-4(e) of the Georgia Code states that “the members shall not be compensated for their services but they shall be reimbursed in an amount equal to the per diem received by the General Assembly for each day or portion thereof spent in serving as members of the commission.” Under section 54-7-21(b), that would be $75.

This leads me to believe that the State Ethics Commission members aren't getting rich doing their job, and aren't really looking to do any more work than they have to. This may explain what I perceive as a propensity to dismiss cases relating to a SPLOST vote that the people have already won. The polls were the real battlefield. The battle has already been decided.

In past years, I have made fun of our legislators for passing laws like the one proclaiming the Hawkinsville Civitan Club's “Shoot the Bull” barbecue championship as the official state beef barbecue championship cookoff. This law clutters our lawbooks at section 50-3-75, along with laws on an official possum, an official vegetable, an official reptile, and other inane laws. Perhaps our citizens could pay greater attention to the kind of people we elect as legislators, and the kind of legislation that would keep our elections clean and meaningful. It is clear from the law that set it up that the ineffectiveness of our State Ethics Commission is by design.

Frankly, I am grateful we can find lawyers in this state public-spirited enough to work for $75 a day. (With six customers, a barber could make that in an hour. For steady work, $75 a day comes to $18,000 a year.) At that pay rate, I can certainly understand why the State Ethics Commission members might not be eager to take on any more work than they have to. Theirs is not a job where you make a lot of friends either. Once you understand the system, whether you're watching The Rock or the State Ethics Commission, everything falls into place, and you can be at peace with the world.

Who says you can't learn anything from watching wrestling on television? Or reading best-selling books? Or, for that matter, watching the State Ethics Commission!

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayette County

cypaquin@msn.com

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