Pennsylvanians have, for some time, been entertained with a scandal called Bonusgate, which involves state legislative staff not only being used for campaigns, but getting bonuses, which makes a common practice appear even uglier. The ugliness has recently increased in intensity:  defense counsel for two of the legislators is accusing the attorney general (who instituted the criminal actions) of doing the very same thing, without the bonuses. And the attorney general, of a different political party than the great majority of the accused legislators, is running for governor. Could a screenwriter come up with a better plot to undermine citizens' trust in those who represent them?

The elephant in the room is the fact that most elected officials use their staff in their campaigns, and often loan them out to others', as well. The way to deal with conduct this common is not to prosecute it (especially when it is politically convenient). The best way, I think, is to recognize that this conduct is here to stay, and then regulate it.

There are two issues involved in the use of staff in campaigns. One is the misuse of government resources for nongovernmental purposes. The other is the misuse of office to coerce subordinates. To me, it is far worse to abuse people than it is to abuse government resources, but it is wrong to do both.

My proposed solution would deal with both issues. One, every elected official must designate a set, limited number of aide positions to be held by individuals who are hired to work both for the government and for campaigns. Such individuals will not be coerced into working on campaigns, because they will take the position knowing what is required of them. They will also keep very careful records of how they use their time, like a lawyer, including whom they talk with and for what general purpose. This information will be public. For all the hours they work for campaigns, the relevant campaign will pay them. For all the hours they work for the government, the government will pay them. Unlike other staff, they will work on an hourly basis, with a cap.

Once this setup has been established, ethics commissions (and prosecutors, where such misconduct is treatly criminally) should very strictly enforce coercion of subordinate and misuse of government resource provisions. There will be no hypocrisy and less politics involved.

There is nothing more damaging to government ethics than for there to be prohibited conduct that is actually the norm, not just in poor ethics environments, but in the ethics environments of most cities and larger counties. The Pennsylvania fiasco should cause government ethics experts to move quickly to change the way use of staff for campaigns is handled.

For more on Bonusgate, see an article in Friday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [1] and a commentary in Friday's Harrisburg Patriot-News [2].

For more on political activity on the job, see my earlier blog post [3].

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research, City Ethics

203-230-2548