State Ethics Reform

For decades Michigan has had a campaign finance reform law and lobbying regulation law on the books. It has not been updated since then in any significant way. Michigan was a leader in regulation and monitoring of public officials campaign funds and lobbyist behavior. For the last twenty years most other large states have passed us by. We have not done any significant reform and our laws do not reflect the changes in our society or in techonology.

It is time for sweeping changes and reform.

Attorney General Cox has made such a proposal. He is running for Governor so one has to question his motiviation, BUT at least he has thrown something into the reform bucket. He is putting something forward. It is time for legislative leaders to come forward with their proposals. Citizens groups also. Only 8 of 38 Senators will be returning, due to term limits, after the 2010 elections. One third of the House will be new. The Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and the Secretary of State are all term limited and they will be replaced by new officials. It is time for these exiting officials to take a look at this issue and put some reform in place for the new government that will arrive on January 1, 2011.

The following is a news story by the Detroit News on Sunday, August 30, 2009:

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Cox proposes ethics reform bills for Mich. public officials
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
Detroit -- Public officials across Michigan from the Detroit City Council to the governor's office would be required to disclose lobbyist-paid gifts and details about their assets, incomes and debt under an ethics reform package proposed by Attorney General Mike Cox.
If the package of bills is passed, Cox said Thursday, the state would join 47 others that have more detailed rules on what public officials must tell constituents about their financial lives. Such disclosure, he said, would allow citizens to know more about potential conflicts between a politician's life and their voting record.
Under Cox's plan, many elected officials and some appointed ones would be required, under fear of criminal prosecution, to reveal on what boards they serve, who took them out to golf and dinner, and which bank holds their mortgage. It would also force the disclosure of similar gifts given to spouses and dependents, and would give the Secretary of State subpoena power to gather information.

"If I'm serving on a corporate board, the voters ought to know about it," Cox said.
According to a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity, Michigan, Vermont and Idaho are the only states that have no laws requiring personal financial disclosures for legislators. The organization gave each of them, along with 17 other states, an "F" grade. But 14 others states, according to the organization, have improved their disclosure laws since a similar survey was done in 2006.
"Michigan has the opportunity to join the bandwagon, where the thrust has been internationally for more transparency and openness in government," said Peggy Kerns, director of the National Conference of State Legislatures' Center for Ethics in Government.
Kerns, however, said the disclosure must have two components: easily accessible data and a public that wants the information.
"The public has to care about this stuff too," said Kerns, who is based in Denver.
The package proposed by Cox is expected to be introduced in the Legislature within the next week, he said. It is sponsored by state Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt.
Most states have ethics legislation, and Michigan has some: Lobbyists, for instance, are required to disclose when they give gifts totaling $725 to public officials. But the Opsommer bills would put that onus on public officials, and would require disclosure when the total exceeds $250.
Cox announced the package during a press conference at his Detroit office, where he was joined by Warren Mayor Jim Fouts and Gary Brown, a candidate for Detroit City Council who was at the center of the text-message scandal revealed after he won a whistle-blower suit against the city and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The law would cover the state's top elected officials, as well as department directors, the state boards of education, legislators and state Supreme Court justices. It also would cover local elected officials who earn more than $65,000.
Among the provisions:
• Report gifts from lobbyists (sporting events, meals, trips) that exceed $250.
• Reimbursements from lobbyists that exceed $250.
• Outside income that exceeds $1,000, including second jobs, rental income and investment income.
• Assets, including homes, recreational vehicles, stocks and bonds that exceed $2,500.
• Liabilities, such as home loans, that exceed $10,000.
Fouts said he has taken flak in Warren for a "no gifts" policy, one of several ethics stands he's taken in the Macomb County city. The public needs to know that there are no hidden interests behind the politicians they elect, he said.
"It really enhances the public good and, more importantly, the public trust," Fouts said. "People should be elected to serve the public and not their personal interests."
Cox, who has announced his bid for governor in 2010, said he will make his own voluntary disclosure next week. He admitted to getting some candy and nuts at Christmastime but said he has eschewed other gifts. But he said he knows that lobbyists and others are always interested in gaining the ear of politicians.
"If you want to golf all summer, you can golf all summer," Cox said of lobbyist-provided gifts. "The temptations are always there."
Brown, who is among the 18 finalists for City Council, said, if elected, he will propose similarly tough disclosure legislation for Detroit. He would expand it, however, to include department heads. Brown, who was fired in 2003 by Kilpatrick after he began investigating the behavior of the mayor's staff, ultimately won an $8.4 million settlement from the city.
He said he'd like to see the creation of a Web site that would allow anyone to see how every dollar is spent by the city.
"I would like to see a bright light shined on city government," he said.
mwilkinson@detnews.com (313) 222-2563

Ethics Board For Legislature and other Professions

The following story describes a situation where an investigation of the behaviour of two State Senators done by their staff found both Senators "innocent". This is a staff that works for the Senate and their eventual jobs may depend on these Senators. Maybe the state should look at all of the various ethics boards or commissions and make sure that the membership is not made up of the people who are regulated by the ethics board or are paid by the individual professional being investigated. This should also include the prohibition of members of the same profession serving on the ethics board for the profession that they govern. Doctors, lawyers, judges, nurses, etc., all have a majority of their profession on their ethics boards or commissions.

Here is the news report on the Senators:

LANSING — A state Senate investigation into a heated exchange between two members in a Capitol elevator June 17 found “insufficient evidence” of behavior that would require disciplinary action, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, announced today.
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Bishop, in a letter sent to Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman, D-Detroit, said he would not take any formal action against Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who Clark-Coleman had accused of acting in a threatening manner toward her during an argument over state spending.
An investigation of the incident by Senate staff concluded the two had a loud and angry, and brief, confrontation. But there was little evidence beyond Clark-Coleman’s assertion that Kahn had given his colleague reason to be fearful, the report said.
Clark-Coleman told investigators Kahn was so angry he “looked like a blowfish” and that she feared he would strike her during the exchange. But other witnesses — there were two other senators and an aide in the elevator — said that, while both Kahn and Clark-Coleman were extremely agitated, the encounter did not appear to verge on violence.
The two senators clashed after a committee hearing in which the Republican majority voted to cut funding for Wayne County’s community mental health programs. Clark-Coleman said the vote was heartless and discriminatory.
End of Story......