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Campaign Ideas for Local Government Ethics Reform
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Robert Wechsler
Election time can be a good time for local government ethics. Good
government candidates spout all sorts of interesting ideas about
ethics independence, budgeting, transparency, and the like, which
are rarely heard between elections.
Take, for example, Leland Yee, who is running for mayor of San Francisco. His Plan for an Independent City Hall starts off with a call for the independence of the city's ethics commission. He has an original idea for EC member selection, patterned on the new state redistricting commission: a pool of citizens who apply is narrowed based on qualifications and independence, and then members are selected at random from the narrowed pool.
For Yee, independence doesn't end with EC member selection. He also calls for the mayor to have nothing to do with the EC budget. Rather, the EC designs its own budget request, which still goes through the budget process. But if Yee were elected mayor, it's likely he would have to push for a sizeable increase in the EC budget in order to obtain the reforms he feels are necessary.
The rest of Yee's ideas come largely from the recent civil grand jury report on the EC (see my blog post on the report), but he does add ideas of his own. For example, he calls for more EC transparency, including open hearings and online information regarding pending cases. He calls for an end to investigation delays and for more investigators to make this possible. And he calls for more proactive enforcement, rather than the EC simply responding to complaints. EC initiative is one of the most important powers an EC can have.
Yee also wants to greatly improve transparency in city government, including videos or webcasts of every meeting, starting with the EC, which he feels should "lead by example." In its draft response to the grand jury report, the EC takes the position that televizing is a luxury it cannot afford, and that it is better to use audio, web availability, and social media.
Yee calls for all commissions to be open to penalty for transparency violations, and for transparency training for all city employees.
And finally, Yee wants to increase the registering of lobbyists by changing the definition, having the EC proactively seek out unregistered lobbyists, and eliminating loopholes and abuses.
It's good to see such ideas floated. Unfortunately, it's easier to find original ideas in campaign documents than in actual discussions about ethics reform.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
203-859-1959
Take, for example, Leland Yee, who is running for mayor of San Francisco. His Plan for an Independent City Hall starts off with a call for the independence of the city's ethics commission. He has an original idea for EC member selection, patterned on the new state redistricting commission: a pool of citizens who apply is narrowed based on qualifications and independence, and then members are selected at random from the narrowed pool.
For Yee, independence doesn't end with EC member selection. He also calls for the mayor to have nothing to do with the EC budget. Rather, the EC designs its own budget request, which still goes through the budget process. But if Yee were elected mayor, it's likely he would have to push for a sizeable increase in the EC budget in order to obtain the reforms he feels are necessary.
The rest of Yee's ideas come largely from the recent civil grand jury report on the EC (see my blog post on the report), but he does add ideas of his own. For example, he calls for more EC transparency, including open hearings and online information regarding pending cases. He calls for an end to investigation delays and for more investigators to make this possible. And he calls for more proactive enforcement, rather than the EC simply responding to complaints. EC initiative is one of the most important powers an EC can have.
Yee also wants to greatly improve transparency in city government, including videos or webcasts of every meeting, starting with the EC, which he feels should "lead by example." In its draft response to the grand jury report, the EC takes the position that televizing is a luxury it cannot afford, and that it is better to use audio, web availability, and social media.
Yee calls for all commissions to be open to penalty for transparency violations, and for transparency training for all city employees.
And finally, Yee wants to increase the registering of lobbyists by changing the definition, having the EC proactively seek out unregistered lobbyists, and eliminating loopholes and abuses.
It's good to see such ideas floated. Unfortunately, it's easier to find original ideas in campaign documents than in actual discussions about ethics reform.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
203-859-1959
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