The Poor State of Local Government Ethics in the Albany Area
<a href="http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Ethics-laws-outdated-not-used…; target="”_blank”">An
investigative article in Sunday's Albany <i>Times-Union</i></a> looks at
the local government ethics programs in 78 local governments in four
New York counties. What it found is sadly typical in most states.<br>
<br>
What it found was that at least 30 of the governments had not
updated their ethics laws since the early 1970s, when government
ethics was in its infancy. Almost half of the governments had no
ethics board, and where ethics boards are required, many have never
held a meeting or they include elected officials among their
members. The Albany County attorney said that he has worked for the
city for six years and "I don't see anything that shows me [the
ethics board has] existed since I've been here." In some towns,
the town board is the ethics board. Apparently, no one has considered this a
serious conflict of interest.<br>
<br>
It gets worse. "County officials in Albany, Schenectady, and
Saratoga did not respond to repeated calls and emails about when the
last meeting of their ethics boards took place." <br>
<br>
And the reporter found it very difficult, and sometimes impossible,
to see financial disclosure statements, which are required by state
law for the officials of governments in cities and counties with a
population over 50,000. Even though they are legally public records,
clerks required a formal FOI request, which is allowable, but
unnecessary. One clerk said he had to be present for any review of the
forms: "They are very confidential." Another said that they are
not public records, that only the ethics board can view them (but
she couldn't say when the board had last met).<br>
<br>
The Colonie town attorney said that releasing the disclosure forms
would "cost the <i>Times-Union</i> a fortune" because the town might need
to hire a private company to remove employees' home addresses from
thousands of documents. The reporter added, "It's unclear why that's
necessary because voter, property and tax records, which all list
home addresses, are open for public inspection."<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Ethics-official-s-donations-dra…; target="”_blank”">a
<i>Times-Union</i> article yesterday</a>, the same town attorney was
responsible for vetting the appointment of the town's ethics board
chair. He approved the appointment despite the fact that the nominee
had made large contributions to a town supervisor and a town party
committee, was chair of the town's Local Development Corporation
(LDC), and worked for a law firm that did substantial work for the
town. Although the LDC is a quasi-governmental body, it is under the
ethics board's jurisdiction.<br>
<br>
An important problem is that the state requires very little from
local governments. The state comptroller has tried to push through
more state requirements (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ny-state-comptroller-reports-local-go…; target="”_blank”">my
blog post on this</a>), and the New York State Bar Association
made better recommendations in a 2011 report (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ny-state-bar-association-report-local…; target="”_blank”">my
blog post on this</a>). Both have been ignored by the state
legislature.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/keep-our-leaders-honest/26124/" target="”_blank”">A <i>Times-Union</i> editorial this week</a> bemoans the state of
ethics programs in its area. It ends the editorial with useful
advice to citizens on what they can do to improve the situation:<blockquote>
One way citizens can light a fire under local officials is simply by
showing up at a city council or town board meeting and asking why
the ethics policy hasn’t been updated in years. There is no good
answer to that question.<br>
<br>
It’s also worth noting that this is one of those years with lots
of local posts on the ballot but no big state or national races to
bring voters to the polls. So turnout is typically low. Defying
that trend and heading to the polls Nov. 5 would be another way
for citizens to say that they are making their government their
problem, not somebody else’s.</blockquote>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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