File photo
George Pierce
Former Vestavia Hills Councilman George Pierce has been elected vice chairman of the Alabama Ethics Commission.
Pierce served 17 years on the Vestavia Hills City Council and last year decided not to run for re-election. Gov. Kay Ivey nominated him to serve on the Ethics Commission, and the state Senate confirmed his appointment for five years in March. His first meeting was April 1, and he was elected vice chairman then.
Pierce said the governor was looking for someone who had experience on a city council. When he was appointed, the other two members of the Ethics Commission were both attorneys but had not served as elected officials, he said.
“I had a little different perspective of what goes on when you’re an elected official,” he said. “Unless you’ve ever run for a political office, you don’t quite understand what all goes in to putting together a campaign — the pressure on you, the stress, trying to take care of people. Sometimes it’s beneficial to have someone who has run for a council position or an elected official to give them a different perspective on ethics.”
Pierce said he really enjoyed his time on the Vestavia Hills City Council, and when the opportunity came along to serve on the Ethics Commission, he saw it as a chance to serve all the residents of Alabama, not just Vestavia Hills.
“I’ll try to make citizens of Vestavia proud,” he said. “I always try to represent them well. I’m a strong advocate for ethics, and I just want folks to do what’s right.”
Pierce said Vestavia Hills City Attorney Pat Boone told him he was not aware of an elected official or city employee from Vestavia Hills ever being convicted of an ethics law violation.
Pierce worked more than 15 years in ad sales for Alabama Construction News magazine. Before that, he was a facility manager for the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex for almost 16 years.
After Pierce was appointed to the Ethics Commission, two more new members have been appointed. One is Carole Smitherman, who served three terms on the Birmingham City Council, one month as acting mayor after Larry Langford was found guilty of fraud and corruption, and three terms as a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge. The other is David Pruet III, a partner with the Lightfoot, Franklin & White law firm in Birmingham. The first meeting for Smitherman and Pruet is set for June 3.
Other members of the Ethics Commission are Chairman David Dodd, an attorney from Fort Payne, and Greg Pappas, an attorney from Montgomery.
The Alabama Ethics Commission was created by the state Legislature in 1973 and charged with ensuring that public officials act independently and impartially, that government decisions and policies are made in the proper governmental channels and that public office is not used for private gain.
The Ethics Commission meets in the RSA Union Building in Montgomery on the first Wednesday of the month, every other month. Meetings are open to the public, but the commission frequently adjourns to executive sessions to hear evidence presented by Ethics Commission investigators.
After making a ruling, the Ethics Commission usually makes recommendations to the district attorney’s office in whatever jurisdiction the complaint originated, Pierce said.
In April, the commission heard 40 to 50 cases, most of them involving people who ran for elected office but were accused of not properly filing campaign finance reports. About 30 cases coming before the commission in June will be the same type, Pierce said.
“I think sometimes first-time candidates are a little overwhelmed with running for office, putting together a staff, raising money, and sometimes they just get errant in filing the required financial reports,” Pierce said. “A lot of times, unless it’s just a true abuse, they’ll ask to look at excusing them.”
