Dear Senate Government Operations Committee,
Having been involved in ethics legislation in Vermont for over a decade, we have significant concerns about H.1 which is on your Committee schedule for this week. We believe this bill represents a step backwards in transparency and accountability for public officials and that the bill was rushed out of the House before national ethics experts could weigh in.
Critics of independent oversight, like Mr. O’Grady (the first witness on your schedule to testify) will argue that it is a breach of separation of powers. We believe this argument is a red herring. Most states have embraced independent ethics oversight despite having similar separation of powers issues. In nearly every state, independent Ethics Commissions have the ability to investigate and bring enforcement actions against legislators according to NCSL. Neither are currently in play in Vermont and H.1 would move us further away from a strong ethics framework, not closer.
Despite recent progress on this issue, Vermont is still ranked in the bottom ten nationally for anti-corruption measures for public officials. The lack of enforcement powers for the Ethics Commission is cited a key reason for this ranking. We can do better.
Legislatures across the country (and to a limited degree in Vermont) delegate the authority to receive, investigate, and adjudicate ethics complaints. This authority is delegated in order to ensure public faith in the process. As you can imagine, legislators, judges, and others "policing themselves" does not instill public faith that ethics complaints are dealt with appropriately. This is why 43 other states have given their Commissions full enforcement powers.
A well-functioning ethics framework with independent oversight actually serves legislators' best interests. Independent oversight that the public at large can trust creates a safety blanket for legislators who are acting in good faith. An independent Ethics Commission can look at the facts and clear a public servant who did nothing wrong. The independent nature of the Commission lends itself to public creditability. In other words, it is more likely that the public will trust the findings of an independent Ethics Commission than a legislative panel.
What the current statute requires is the bare minimum, requiring only that the legislative panels consult with the Ethics Commission regarding how to apply the statewide code of ethics and then report back to the Commission the status of their investigation and resolution of the complaint. The same is generally true for the judicial branch where investigations regarding ethics complaints are handled internally.
This bill would remove even these meager accountability measures that we have in place today. We strongly disagree with this; it is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. Vermonters expect strong and independent ethics oversight for all three branches of government. We are at a time when the lack of trust in government institutions is at one of its lowest points in history. The solution is more sunlight, not less.
We would welcome the opportunity to testify on this bill and hope that you will join us in supporting the transparent and accountable state government that Vermonters deserve.
See our Full Analysis of H.1
On behalf of Vermonters,
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Ben Kinsley Executive Director |