Ethics Reforms in Missouri
[ Patrick Tuohey ]Missouri State Representative Jason Kander argued for ethics reform in a recent post in The Kansas City Star. Much like Kander's previous work on behalf of veterans, he has staked out a valence issue that is difficult to counter. (Who, exactly, is opposed to veterans or ethics?) Nevertheless, there is much in Kander's proposals worthy of rigorous debate.
Kander undercuts himself by leading with federal prosecutions of state legislators. Obviously, these are people who have broken existing laws. Does the argument for more ethics laws in Jefferson City assume that people who are willing to break federal law would not be willing to break state law? That seems to be a pretty weak position.
Kander also argues for banning, "committee-to-committee donations and make it a felony to transfer political money for the purpose of hiding the original donor." I am not a trial attorney, but is this enforceable? How often would prosecutors be able to prove an intent to hide?
But what drew my attention is a statement Kander made near the end of the piece:
We must fight corruption the way we treat the flu — as an ever-adapting virus that requires an evolving vaccine. Honest governments, like healthy societies, are the result of eternal vigilance.
I fear that what Rep Kander really means by "we" is "the
government." This is supported by his earlier assertion that, "elected
officials are ultimately responsible for ineffectual ethics laws." His solution? More such laws.
While it is likely that there are plenty of loopholes that serve the
interests of unethical brokers in Jeff City, voters should be sure not to rely
too heavily on legislation to ferret it out through some "evolving"
Rube Goldberg system of ethics enforcement (e.g. contribution limits). What
Kander suggests is an endless array of legislative tweaks, revisions and unintended
consequences that have characterized 30+ years of federal reform and
re-reform. While federal laws may be infinitely more complicated, the
cases of Brown, Smith and el-Amin are arguments that some are still willing to
break them. Adopting more laws does not create
fewer criminals, it just invites endless "gotcha" games that seek to
paint innocent filing errors as serious ethical lapses. (Such legislation also hands incumbents an opportunity to rig the system against their would-be challengers.)
What we need in the age of the Internet is fewer restrictions and more transparency. Voters, journalists and interested parties (read: market forces) are entirely capable of finding and punishing legitimate ethical violations when given the power to do so.
Ultimately, Kander engages in circular reasoning. If legislators cannot be trusted to act ethically, how can they be trusted to ethically enact ethics guidelines?
12/1/2009 10:44:48 AM
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- Table of Contents
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- Repealing the 17th Amendment
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- Missouri's Stake In The Energy Debate
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- The Rise of the Patriot
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- Ned Ryun: The Fight for the Founders
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- The Coming Political Dissonance
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- Ike Skelton: Do Ask, Do Tell
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- Need a Bridge?
Free-spending Republicans like Kit Bond are worse than Democrats, because they understand the principles of limited government and intentionally ignore them.
