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Thumbs Up and Down Today
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Robert Wechsler
Thumbs up for the Virginia House of Delegates General Laws Committee.
According
to an
editorial in today's Charlottesville Daily
Progress, 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.
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?
Thumbs down to the Washington County (FL) Commission and the chair of the Washington County Tourist Development Authority. According to an article in the Chipley Bugle, 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.
Thumbs down to South Dakota State Representative Bernie Hunhoff. According to an editorial in today's Mitchell Daily Republic, 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).
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."
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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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?
Thumbs down to the Washington County (FL) Commission and the chair of the Washington County Tourist Development Authority. According to an article in the Chipley Bugle, 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.
Thumbs down to South Dakota State Representative Bernie Hunhoff. According to an editorial in today's Mitchell Daily Republic, 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).
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."
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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