Oregon ethics czar leaves for Nevada
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 10:26:13 AM EST
This is a sad commentary on the state of Oregon's ethics commission, and also underscores the need for an independent ethics watchdog commission.
The Executive Director of the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission, Pat Hearn, is leaving that position to take a similar one at Nevada's ethics commission:
He's moving to Nevada, partly to get away from the rain he says. But the main reason is that the budget for Nevada's ethics commission is twice the size of Oregon's, despite a smaller population.
Because of budget cuts, the Government Standards and Practices Commission in Oregon has gone from a staff of six to three.
The disproportionality is ridiculous! Ridiculous, I tell you! -- And that's all you're going to get out of me until you click "Read more."
Hearn says the ethics commission has had to triage complaints and let minor violations of the law slide.
David Buchanan, with the group Common Cause says part of the problem is that the state's ethics watchdog is subject to the whims of the very people it regulates.
David Buchanan: "The legislature has a bit of a conflict of interest when it comes to funding of the ethics commission. If there were some way to cut the connection between the funding from the legislature being dependent on the whim of the legislators who may have an axe to grind against the commission, that would be helpful."
David hits the nail on the head. Of course legislators aren't going to react well to being investigated and possibly exposed for corruption, and of couse they're going to naturally use whatever resources they can to fight it. And what is the biggest weapon at a legislator's disposal? The budget, of course.
Nevada, Pat Hearn's new home, has a solution -- make the ethics commission independent! How about that? The Nevada commission is funded by a tax on local governments, and therefore does not operate at the whimsy of those they are tasked with investigating.
What a good idea, eh?
Hearn also says that he doesn't doubt that budget cuts were in retaliation to investigations...so who can blame him for moving to a state that has a better system of accountability?
Tags: Oregon, Nevada, In the States, ethics in government, ethics commission (all tags)
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