I am always fascinated at the ways in which even the most reform-minded
politicians can kill ethics reform proposals that might cause them some
embarrassment. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has done a great deal for
ethics reform, but at least one reform bill, which on its face seems
pretty minor, has apparently gotten in his craw.
According to
an
article in yesterday's Baton Rouge Advocate , the
bill would have required the governor and other statewide elected
officials to disclose the campaign contributions of those they appoint
to
government positions. A similar bill was passed last year without a
single vote against it, but it was vetoed by the governor on account of
a drafting error. While vetoing the bill, the governor apparently
called it "true transparency."
On Wednesday, after the governor's intervention, the bill was amended
to exclude the governor and statewide elected officials from having to
report anything, leaving it up to the appointees themselves (it seems
unreasonable to spread the responsibility around like this). And then
the seriously watered-down bill was itself voted down.
But at least there is a legislative trail to follow. Most ethics reform
bills slowly go from committee to committee, so that they don't manage
to get to the floor before the session is over. This allows elected
officials to vote in favor of ethics reform in committee, without the
reform ever becoming law. In such instances, the legislative trail is
meaningless, and the failure to pass reform can be blamed on higher
priorities (nearly always economic), the need for serious deliberation,
and short legislative sessions.
Another popular way to put off ethics reform is set up task forces to
research it. They take a couple years to make recommendations, and then
the legislative process slowly ignores the recommendations or waters
them down before passing them. If the task force consists of former
legislators and the like, the recommendations are usually very limited,
allowing the legislature or council to be seen as accepting the reforms
whole hog, with necessary changes made by legislative counsel.
In a poor ethics environment, often only very knowledgeable and
committed good government or other sorts of citizen groups can
intervene successfully in such a process to make ethics reform more
than a few minor changes that do nothing to change business as usual.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research, City Ethics
203-230-2548
