PROBLEMS WITH THE NEW ETHICS LAW @ 05 Jan 2006

THE NEW ETHICS LAW:
The new Ethics Code was adopted November 15, 2005 and became effective December 30, 2005.
There are a number of provisions in the new law that we believe are unlawful - that is, they will not be approved by the State Ethics Commission because they do not meet the standard for county ethics laws that is required by State law. See Commentary on this website for a list of the provisions we believe do not meet the State standard. There are other worrisome provisions, as well.

OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN:
A month after the County had adopted the ethics law, it still had not sent the new law to the State for approval. (It is common practice to send a draft of an ethics code to the State before voting on it to make sure it meets the State requirements.) Concerned that the County Ethics Commission would be put in the position of administering a law with unlawful provisions, Ethics Matters sent the State Ethics Commission a copy of the law. In the process of copying the law from the County code, we noticed that there was a discrepancy between the text of the law as adopted and the law as it appears in the County Code. The discrepancy is in the exemptions section, a section we were already questioning because of the last minute insertion of an over-broad provision allowing exemptions for the County Commissioners and members of Boards and Commissions. The altered text made exemptions to the Conflicts of Interest, Financial Disclosure and Gifts requirements even easier to obtain, and we were alarmed.

Printed below is Ethics Matters’ statement of concern about the exemption provision at Press and Public Comment on January 3.

STATEMENT OF ETHICS MATTERS TO THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS JANUARY 3, 2006

We told you earlier there are unlawful provisions in the new ethics law. These provisions do not meet the State’s minimum requirements for County ethics codes.
Tonight I want to share two specific concerns we have about the new law.

First, a special exemption provision in your law permits the Ethics Commission to grant exemptions to you five and to part-time members of Boards and Commissions. Exemptions can be had solely by establishing that your regular employment does not conflict with your official duties. Thus, for example, an insurance agent, a doctor, or a retired person serving on the Planning Commission can be excused from disclosing lands held, interests in local development companies, or gifts received from developers.

The provision that permits such exemptions is surely unlawful under State law. The County Ethics Commission may soon be receiving requests for exemptions from the ethics code, especially from its financial disclosure requirements. What is our Ethics Commission supposed to do? Should they administer an unlawful provision?

Our second concern. The exemption provision in the new ethics law as it is published in the County Code has been altered. It is different from, and broader than, the exemption provision in the law you passed on November 15. You can see the differences by looking at the two versions on the County website.

The altered exemption provision in the County Code makes it even easier - much easier-- for not just for you and members of Boards and Commissions , but for any County official or employee to gain an ethics exemption.
Citizens pay for county government with their tax money. They are entitled to the assurance that decisions made by their government are made in their behalf and not for personal financial gain. It is a betrayal of citizens and the vast majority of government employees to undermine the County’s ethics law with easy-to-get, unlawful exemptions.

You should fix this ugly situation by amending the exemption provision on an emergency basis. You should adopt the exemption provision that is standard in other Maryland counties, in the State, and was, in fact, in all earlier versions the County’s new ethics law.
And, please, find out who improperly altered the ethics law. The ethics law as adopted and the ethics law in the County Code should be the same. The citizens are due an explanation.