Thumbs Up and Down Today

Thumbs up for the Virginia House of Delegates General Laws Committee.
According
to <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/op_ed/article/bill_aims_f…; target="”_blank”">an
editorial in today's Charlottesville </a><span><a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/op_ed/article/bill_aims_f…; target="”_blank”">Daily
Progress</a>,</span> this House committee greatly improved a Senate
bill on
disclosure of conflicts of interest by local land-use board members.
The Senate wanted to make disclosure of financial interests in real
property in town optional at the discretion of each
local government. The House committee chose to mandate disclosure.<br>
<br>

The Senate bill allows local land-use board members to vote on
decisions that would affect their property holdings. The House
committee chose to require members to abstain. Anyone want to place
bets on how this dispute is resolved?<br>
<br>
Thumbs down to the Washington County (FL) Commission and the chair of
the Washington County Tourist Development Authority. According to <a href="http://www.chipleybugle.com/localnewsfeb09/commissioners-2.aspx&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Chipley </a><span><a href="http://www.chipleybugle.com/localnewsfeb09/commissioners-2.aspx&quot; target="”_blank”">Bugle</a>,</span>
when the commission chair raised the possibility of the tourist
authority chair having a conflict of interest, counsel suggested asking
the Florida Ethics Commission. The tourist authority chair responded by
saying he would rather resign than have them ask for advice. The
commission took no action, thereby suggesting to all county officials
that asking for ethics advice is equivalent to admitting a conflict,
and it's better to put your head in the sand than act ethically.<br>
<br>
Thumbs down to South Dakota State Representative Bernie Hunhoff.
According to <a href="http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/articles/index.cfm?id=32033&section=Opi…; target="”_blank”">an
editorial in today's Mitchell </a><span><a href="http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/articles/index.cfm?id=32033&section=Opi…; target="”_blank”">Daily
Republic</a>, </span>when a state rep from one party publicly raised a
question about whether a state senator had a conflict of interest,
Hunhoff, a state rep from the other party, said that he didn't think it
appropriate to question the motives of legislators (the senator's law
firm represents a tribe that would benefit from the gambling bill in question).<br>
<br>
The editorial responds to this better than I could:  "If a
lawmaker even
has a hint of a conflict of interest in the state Legislature, it
absolutely should be discussed in public. Why not? If
there is no conflict, then it will be resolved in the open. And if
there is some sort of conflict, the public will find out about it and
decide on their own if it’s worthy of debate. We want to know the
motives of our lawmakers. In fact, we deserve to know."<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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