Laughingstocks on ethics

Governor McAuliffe caused a minor stir when he announced that he was putting together a panel of top men (and women) to propose changes to the state’s ethics rules. The Republican leaders of the General Assembly gave the idea a frosty reception, though they, too, admit — however grudgingly — that something else must be done. Next year.

All of it is theater. Neither the Governor nor the General Assembly is serious about changing any rules that might lessen their access to the assorted cookie jars surrounding capitol square. Why should they be? There is no political price to pay for doing too little, but a high personal price for doing too much.

Paul Goldman and I write in the Washington Post that a good gauge of seriousness is if the governor’s commission, or for that matter, the General Assembly, proposes to ban the greatest gift of all:

Three sitting Democratic members of the General Assembly resigned this year. The governor quickly appointed them to posts in his administration. Everyone claims the two events — resignation and appointment — were random, there having been no discussion linking the two in any way. And for good reason: any talk to the contrary might trigger the quid pro quo theories offered by the prosecution in the McDonnell case.

Under a special state law, legislators can potentially receive a huge financial gift by leveraging their elective office for an appointed one. This rule, which is not permitted in private pension plans, allows legislators to count their part-time legislative service toward the publicly funded pension otherwise only available to full-time state workers. A legislator who served 17 years in the General Assembly can quit, work three years full-time at a top salaried administration job and then qualify for a big, tax-free pension based on that salary.

This “gift” pension can be worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars to those with the right political connections. Section 5 of Article IV of the state constitution had been thought by voters to stop such publicly funded shenanigans. But it has been interpreted to allow this loophole. Can we expect the ethics commission to confront the governor on this issue?

Don’t hold your breath waiting for anyone to propose eliminating this taxpayer-funded golden parachute.

But surely something will change, right, Indy?

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