Mitt Romney on Local Government Ethics

Read all about it! Local government ethics becomes a presidential campaign issue! Yes, you heard that right. According to CBS News, this very day presidential candidate Mitt Romney said "the person sitting across the table from [a teachers union] should not have received the largest campaign contribution from the teachers union themselves ... [It's] an extraordinary conflict of interest and something that should be addressed."

Okay then, let's address it.

If teachers unions should not be allowed to give sizeable contributions to local government officials because they have dealings with them, then anyone who has dealings with local government officials should not be allowed to give them sizeable contributions. This includes contractors and their associations, consultants, lobbyists, those seeking grants and permits, attorneys and other professionals who do work for a local government or represent clients before it, and local government employees and their unions.

Further, if teachers unions create a conflict when they give contributions, they create exactly the same conflict when they spend money independently in support of or against local government candidates. Ditto all the others in the above list.

In other words, the great majority of money spent on local elections creates conflicts of interest. Remove all of this money from local elections, and you pretty much have to establish public financing of elections, or only wealthy candidates and candidates with strong party support have a chance of getting themselves known, unless they're running in a district small enough to cover door-to-door.

I agree completely with Mr. Romney, although I doubt he agrees with the implications of what he said, as I've presented them. But it's nice that local government ethics shone for a moment with a tiny sliver of the presidential limelight.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

---