Latest Developments:
- The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics approved a new Advisory Opinion regarding gifts to third parties, including gifts from interested sources, that are solicited by public officials (also known as behested payments). In addition, the Albany Times-Union reports that, after 15 months with no Executive Director, that position has been reposted. The article notes that the Governor’s favored candidate for the post who “has been largely serving as the acting executive director,” has not been appointed as “there are not enough votes in favor” of her appointment.
- The California Attorney General issued Opinion No. 18-901, which answers three questions about the California Fair Political Practices Commission. The opinion (1) makes clear that Members of the Commission may not meet “privately over lunch” to discuss the state’s open meeting act; (2) the Commission may take action on matters listed on its agenda even if listed as a matter only on the agenda to be “discussed”; and (3) individual Members may respond to an email sent to all five members and other members of the public by replying only to the members of the public and not the other Commission Members.
- The Cook County Board of Ethics has its third chair this year,Thomas Szromba. The Chicago Tribune reports that the new chair is “principal senior counsel at Boeing” and the longest serving member of the current board.
In Case You Missed It:
- Disclosing Contributions Never Sent: The company behind the scandal that led to the ouster and arrest of the Speaker of the Ohio House filed a disclosure report in late August showing it made a number of contributions in early July before the scandal broke. The Business Journal (Youngstown) reports that those House Members, however, never received the reported contributions. According to the article, a spokeswoman for the energy company “said that PAC donations are included in the report once they are placed into the accounting system to generate a check. FirstEnergy opted to hold those checks that were not mailed after the FBI announced its investigation July 21, allowing more time for the company to investigate and assess the situation…. ‘FirstEnergy has canceled the unmailed checks from July 2020 out of an abundance of caution.’”
- LA City Council Scandal Response: The Daily Breeze reports that a city council committee “advanced several proposals on Wednesday, Sept. 23, intended to create more oversight and transparency of city development projects, in response to recent corruption cases.” The Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee considered several concepts including one “to seek ways to require any meetings between developers and individual council members be disclosed.”
- Inaugural Contributions are Different: The Jackson Clarion-Ledger notes that the Governor of Mississippi’s Inaugural Committee “has dissolved – and it’s unclear where its funds went.” The article points out that inaugural contributions are unregulated in the state. “There is no contribution cap. There is no public disclosure of donors. There is no public accounting of how the money was spent.”
- Electric Dance Around: The Illinois Citizens Utility Board, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization created by the state “can’t accept power company money.” But WBEZ reports that the Board has received “millions of dollars in funding from a pair of ComEd-funded foundations over the past 20 years.” Board members have also received gifts of entertainment from the foundations.