Printer-friendly
Send to e-mail
PDF version
It's pretty clear why Utah's legislators are proposing their version of an independent ethics committee. They fear a lot more ethics reform is coming from voters next fall. Maybe, legislators are thinking, if we pass this little bit of ethics reform, we can convince voters we don't need the more serious reform.
Here's what a legislative interim study committee came up with. To be fair, it goes farther than previous ethics initiatives hatched by lawmakers. It may also be revised in committee or during debate next year. It would form an independent ethics commission made up of two former lawmakers and three retired judges. All complaints against legislators would be reviewed in secret. If a complaint was leaked to the public, it would be dropped.
In order for a charge to be made public, the panel would have to vote 5-0 or 4-1 in support of the charges. A majority 3-2 vote wouldn't be enough. If there was a 5-0 or 4-1 vote, the commission would pass the now-public complaint on to the appropriate ethics committee, House or Senate. Eventually the entire chamber, House or Senate, would vote on the ethics committee's punishment recommendation.
This hastily hatched ethics commission bill has problems. Perhaps our biggest concern is with moving an ethics complaint with only a 4-1 and 5-0 vote by the commission. With that, there appears to be a high possibility for ethics complaints never reaching the media, and by extension, the public. Even if a complaint has teeth, it could still be suppressed and never heard with two votes out of five. Partisanship could sink transparency, in other words.
In our opinion, if the Legislature wants to pass any bill that provides a little bit more ethical accountability to lawmakers, that's great. Utah is sorely behind other states in requiring ethical behavior from its lawmakers. However, if stricter, much-needed ethics reform is on the ballot next fall, its passage should take precedence over the mild ethics reform that is being discussed.
Utah legislators need a very cold shower in regard to ethics. Too many legislators believe it is perfectly OK to take gifts from lobbyists, use campaign cash for non-campaign expenses and dole out their campaign cash to other candidates. There are no limits on campaign contributions in Utah. Our state's weak ethics enforcers are powerless to effect serious reform.
The tradition that has tolerated low ethical standards needs to be ended. Small, frantic reforms by lawmakers are likely too late.
Guess you will have to stick with WCF
I think the world would be a better place if we quit fighting our battles in the media. The Standard didn't reponsd to your call to punish an "apparent ethics violation"? What sort of organization do you think the Standard is?
Maybe we need an ethics committee....
would an ethics commission be ethical?
Independent and unaccountable appointed commissions are unlikely to turn out to be any better ethics watchdogs than the legislature policing itself. While such a commission sounds nice when wrapped up in a sentence or two, it raises questions about how ethical such a commission would itself be, since such unaccountability invites moral hazard. Who would regulate the ethics regulators?
The Standard loves the idea of legislative ethics reform, regardless of its form. I am for more ethical and transparent behavior by politicians. But I believe that the form that such policies take is at least as important as the underlying justification for the policies.
Good Editorial
Very good editorial.
However, what really puzzles me is how the Standard can have such clear vision when it comes to the need for ethics reform in the State Legislature and yet be so completely blind when it comes to the even greater need for it in the Ogden City Government. The Godfrey regime is just about as ethically challenged as any city government in Utah history, yet the Standard repeatedly turns a blind eye to it.
for example
Just last week I tried, for the third or fourth time, to interest the Standard-Examiner in reporting on an apparent violation of the Utah Municipal Officers' and Employees' Ethics Act by Ogden City Councilman Blain Johnson. The S-E has ignored this story for over six months and has never responded to my communications on this subject. Guess I'll just have to write it up for Weber County Forum.