Outsourcing Local Ethics Administration to the State EC

Update: December 20, 2012 (see below)

It looks like outsourcing may finally come to local government ethics. No, this doesn't mean that a city's hotline will be picked up by someone in India (in fact, hotlines in some localities are already outsourced to corporations). What it means is that the ongoing failure of scandal-ridden San Bernardino County (CA) to come up with an ethics program (see my blog posts on this) has finally been accepted as part of its government's nature. So, according to an article in the Press-Enterprise this week, the county supervisors have decided to outsource the county's ethics program to the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). And the FPPC has agreed to take on the job, applying the laws for state officials and employees to those in the county (the FPPC also has ethics provisions relating to local officials and employees, but it generally does not enforce them itself).

All that remains is for the state legislature to approve the deal, and the county to enter into a contract with the FPPC wherein the county would, according to a county supervisor, pay $100,000 to $200,000 annually for random audits of county campaign committees, training, crafting contribution limits and other services.

This would be the first such relationship the FPPC has entered into. San Bernardino County certainly seems like a local government that needs outside supervision. But will the FPPC be able to give it the attention and support it needs? Will it provide timely ethics advice, and make sure it has a monopoly on it?

This will be an interesting experiment to watch. I hope that, after the first year, the FPPC produces, or asks someone else to produce, a report about what happened, what went right, what went wrong, and what improvements can be made. I also hope that San Bernardino County officials do not take this deal to mean that they can sit back and feel they are covered ethically. There is still a lot of work to do to create a healthier ethics environment in the county government. Changing an organizational culture cannot be outsourced. It takes a lot of work.

Update: December 20, 2012
According to an article in yesterday's Press-Enterprise, the outsourcing relationship has become a reality. However, it is limited to administering the county's Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance, which primarily involves campaign contribution limits. Under the outsourcing contract, the FPPC will provide advice, electronic disclosure, auditing of disclosure forms, investigations, and enforcement.

The county felt that it could not match the state's expertise. And the county legislator who introduced the idea said it would cost the county less and would provide "a very appropriate arms-length distance between the regulators and the candidates and committees on whom the regulations are enforced."

Campaign finance is an especially good area to outsource, because it involves so much labor that it can overwhelm a local ethics commission, even if it has a staff member. And campaign finance is political as it gets, requiring a strong appearance that local politicians have no involvement in enforcement.

In a world where few local officials even think of creating a truly independent local ethics commission (although the numbers are growing) or of creating a regional ethics commission to keep down costs and provide needed expertise, outsourcing to a state ethics commission is a good idea.

But ethics reform in San Bernardino County shouldn't stop here. The county has a lot more work to do. It needs a full-fledged, independent (or state-managed) ethics program.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

203-859-1959