SOME ETHICS LAW PROGRESS @ 25 Aug 2006

Ethics Matters’ proposed amendments to the County Ethics Law were the subject of the County Commissioners’ workshop on August 15.The amendments, requested and introduced by Commissioner Ransom, were discussed in light of a letter received by the County from Mr. Robert Hahn, Counsel to the State Ethics Commission.

The majority of Ethics Matters’ proposed amendments were aimed at making the County ethics law meet at least the minimum standard required of counties by the State. Mr. Hahn’s comments addressed Ethics Matters proposed amendments in view of those requirements. The Commissioners evidently agreed to accept most of the proposed amendments, although no vote was taken.

The amendments that drew the most discussion and became the sticking points were the amendment giving the Ethics Commission subpoena power and the amendment changing the level of evidence required to find a violation of the ethics law from “clear and convincing evidence” to “a preponderance of evidence.”

There seemed to be an acknowledgement that the Ethics Commission can not do its duty of hearing and deciding complaints when it is unable to require either evidence or witnesses, yet must have “clear and convincing evidence” in order to determine a violation of the law. There was no resolution of this problem, instead a request to Mr. Thompson, the County Attorney , to ask Mr. Hahn whether the State was requiring or suggesting the change from “clear and convincing” to “preponderance. Although the State did not require that the County Ethics Commission be given subpoena power, the Hahn letter recommended it.</P>

At the end of the workshop there was talk of drafting a new bill containing the agreed-upon amendments, and the request that Mr. Thompson consult Mr. Hahn on the evidence issue. There was no date established for either of these actions.