May 2012
3 posts
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Bill would force Louisiana political candidates to... →
Any candidate running for the Louisiana Legislature or for statewide office should complete ethics training, says Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette.The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved Bishop’s House Bill 365 and sent it to the full Senate for final approval.
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Lobbying data goes online, searchable in... →
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission today added lobbying data to its online searchable database. Paid lobbyists register with the Public Disclosure Commission before lobbying state government and file monthly reports disclosing their compensation, entertainment expenses, campaign contributions given, and other lobbying-related expenditures.
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Public Information Board a step in the right... →
Before a bill signing ceremony Thursday, individual Iowans had few options for forcing public officials to turn over those public records. Citizens could call the county attorney or the state attorney general — but those attorneys seldom prosecuted even clear violations of those laws.
Citizens could contact the state’s Office of Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman, but ombudsman staff didn’t have the...
April 2012
24 posts
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U.S. Attorney opens tips hotline to report... →
United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that he will be taking a new, more aggressive approach to the investigation of public corruption in West Virginia and he is encouraging citizens to join the fight.
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Illinois lottery contact went to generous... →
Northstar Lottery Group won a 2010 contract to manage the Illinois State Lottery that could enrich the firm by more than $300 million over five years, but a Franklin Center investigation has discovered that irregularities marred the state’s selection process.
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Wisconsin Gov. Walker gives back $170,000 of... →
The Republican governor has been raising large sums in recent months because the normal limits on campaign donations do not apply from the time recall petitions are circulated until the accountability board orders a recall election to be held. That has allowed Walker to accept as much as $500,000 from one donor — 50 times the normal limit of $10,000.
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Floridians kept in dark about secret... →
As Michael Bender reported for the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald last year, “New data shows Florida has signed contracts worth $1.7 billion since 1995 in return for promises of 225,000 new jobs. But only about one-third of those jobs have been filled while the state has paid out 43 percent of the contracts.” The 869,000 jobless Floridians need more from Enterprise Florida than 20,000...
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Don't count on legislators to police themselves
State integrity news for Idaho, from the Idaho Statesman:
Idaho expects, and allows, its 105 citizen legislators to police themselves — to write and enforce their own ethical guidelines.
And that’s one reason why the rules are so weak. It is unrealistic to expect lawmakers to write rules without thinking about what helps or hurts them. That’s why the Legislature has been slow to follow 47 other...
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Georgia Gov. Deal signs new records law
State integrity news for Georgia, from the Athens Banner-Herald:
Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday signed into law a sweeping overhaul of the state’s open-records rules, touting the measure as among several legislative successes from this year’s General Assembly session.
The measure, which takes effect July 1, reduces the cost of obtaining public documents and stiffens penalties for...
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What change do you want from your state's...
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E-Mail your state report card to your officials →
If you want to enact change in your community, please e-mail your state’s report card to your officials. Reform efforts are already being made, so let your voice be heard!
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Why corruption matters in U.S. states
In late 2009 I was catching up at a Starbucks with Bill Buzenberg, the Executive Director at the Center for Public Integrity. I told Bill about some of the interesting research Global Integrity was doing at the municipal, state, regional, and provincial level in a number of countries. But I was frustrated, I said, by the lack of good data here in the United States about how state governments were...
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New Jersey State Police investigate allegations...
State integrity news for New Jersey, from the Newark Star-Ledger:
A State Police trooper pulls over a South Jersey assemblyman one day in February. The lawmaker tries to get out of the ticket, and later complains the trooper targeted him as payback because the Legislature voted to make public employees pay more for health and pension benefits.
The trooper says that after he refused to throw out...
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Iowa Senate considers streaming debate online
State integrity news for Iowa, from the Sioux City Journal:
The Iowa House plans to again stream floor debate over the Internet next session, and the Senate is looking into providing similar coverage. Officials in the House said the effort to improve government transparency has been a success, with up to 100 people at a time logged on to monitor debate.
“I think that’s one reason you...
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Arizona Senate shoots down bans on lobbyist gifts...
State integrity news for Arizona, from the Arizona Capitol Times:
The Arizona Senate is rejecting a series of ethics measures proposed in the wake of the 2011 Fiesta Bowl scandal.
One of the proposals voted down Thursday would have banned lobbyists from giving free meals to legislators. Others would have prohibited campaign contributions by lobbyists to legislators or candidates for the...
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Washington Supreme Court ruling supports state's...
State integrity news for Washington, from SII partner KUOW:
A recent public radio investigation ranked Washington state second in the nation for government transparency. According to the State Integrity Investigation, only Connecticut did a better job of providing public access to public information.
As one quadriplegic man from Seattle learned, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to pry...
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Citizen-led group pushes for ethics reform in...
Every year Paul Spencer teaches the U.S. Constitution to the students in his government and politics class at Catholic High School For Boys in Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the last few years, Spencer found himself increasingly upset as he recited the words and recounted the intent of America’s founders.
“I noticed myself getting a little more angry every consecutive year about how things are in...
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Maine lawmakers, Gov. LePage close ethics...
By Naomi Schalit and John Christie, ©Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
The state has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations run by legislative leaders or the spouses of high-level state officials since 2003. But because of a loophole in ethics law, the public didn’t know about it.
That won’t happen again.
A bill to require disclosure of state contracts with legislators...
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Judicial elections complicate justice system in...
State integrity news for North Carolina from SII partner WFAE:
Judicial elections are non-partisan, which means voters can’t pick the easy way out and vote straight Democrat or Republican. But judicial candidates are also limited in what they can say about how they would rule in cases - so that makes it hard for voters to choose.
Read and hear more at WFAE - Charlotte.
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Bill Gates Talks State Budgets & Corruption on TED...
America’s school systems are funded by the 50 states. In this fiery talk, Bill Gates says that state budgets are riddled with accounting tricks that disguise the true cost of health care and pensions and weighted with worsening deficits — with the financing of education at the losing end.
Click the image to see Bill Gates deliver a fiery TED Talks presentation:
We’ve...
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WatchBill Buzenberg appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” Monday morning to talk about the inspiration for the State Integrity Investigation and the project’s findings. The Center for Public Integrity’s Executive Director spoke at length with host John McArdle about the investigation, answering questions about why New Jersey ranked first, why Georgia ranked last, and...
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"The state level is very important": CPI's Bill...
Bill Buzenberg appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” Monday morning to talk about the inspiration for the State Integrity Investigation and the project’s findings. The Center for Public Integrity’s Executive Director spoke at length with host John McArdle about the investigation, answering questions about why New Jersey ranked first, why Georgia ranked last,...
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Maine Governor, House Minority Leader push for...
Conservative Gov. Paul LePage and his liberal counterparts in the Maine state legislature disagree on many issues, but the two sides have found common ground: An ‘F’ on Maine’s report card is unacceptable.
LePage, an outspoken Republican in his first term, is encouraging a piece of legislation that would expose state officials’ conflicts of interest and decrease the...
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Maine Governor, House Majority Leader push for...
Conservative Gov. Paul LePage and his liberal counterparts in the Maine state legislature disagree on many issues, but the two sides have found common ground: An ‘F’ on Maine’s report card is unacceptable.
LePage, an outspoken Republican in his first term, is encouraging a piece of legislation that would expose state officials’ conflicts of interest and decrease the...
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State Integrity Investigation raises questions...
By Gary Childress
Global Integrity’s research on corruption laws with state by state ranking certainly did bring questions in my mind. I do understand that the research did not attempt to locate corruption but only looked at the structure to protect against corruption. One would expect a correlation between good corruption prevention structure and sound management and fiscal results. Quite...
March 2012
5 posts
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Delaware Gov. Markell supports increased...
Delaware is the latest state to take action on improving its Corruption Risk Report Card grade. With a C- overall grade, Delaware ranked 22nd out of 50 states in the State Integrity Investigation. The overall score was hurt badly by the lack of effective laws and practices governing lobbying activity: Delaware’s 43 percent ‘F’ grade on the lobbying disclosure category was...
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Ohio Democrats demand transparency task force in...
By Caitlin Ginley
Citing the Buckeye State’s D grade from the State Integrity Investigation, Democratic legislators in Ohio have called for a bipartisan task force to review current ethics laws and consider new legislation to strengthen accountability and transparency.
“We have a responsibility to the people of Ohio and it is simply unacceptable for us to fail to ensure government is working...
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Ohio Democrats demand transparency task force in...
By Caitlin Ginley
Citing the Buckeye State’s D grade from the State Integrity Investigation, Democratic legislators in Ohio have called for a bipartisan task force to review current ethics laws and consider new legislation to strengthen accountability and transparency.
“We have a responsibility to the people of Ohio and it is simply unacceptable for us to fail to ensure government is working for...
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Policing Pennsylvania: State needs to spend more...
By Tim Potts
Pennsylvania’s political leaders are hostile to enforcement.
If the governor’s proposed budget is adopted, Pennsylvania’s commitment to enforcement over the past four years (under both Democratic and Republican governors) will be:
Department of State (elections, campaign finance, and lobbying) – cut by 28.9%.
State Ethics Commission (other forms of public corruption) –...
February 2012
6 posts
7 tags
Improving "customer service" in Michigan:...
Governor Rick Snyder thinks the state of Michigan has some unfinished business. In his Jan. 18 State of the State address, Snyder (pictured, right) told the legislature that 2011 was a good year for the state, but said 2012 should be dedicated to “really making this year about good government.”
“It’s not about ‘big government’ or ‘small government,’” Snyder said. “It’s about good government,...
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Keeping New Jersey open: Update planned for open...
Loretta Weinberg used to work in a hospital. At trying moments, when other employees complained about the workload and the more demanding patients, Weinberg had a response ready.
“I used to say, ‘You know, it would be a lot easier around here if we didn’t have these patients around here, needing food and medicine the way that they do,’” Weinberg said.
Weinberg’s tongue-in-cheek line was a...
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Play without pay: Rhode Island's plan to take...
Rhode Island’s history of lawmakers and state contractors getting too cozy? Blame geography and population.
“Rhode Island is a very small state,” said Rep. Michael Marcello (D-Dist. 41). “There has always been a close relationship between contractors and the state government. Not because they are necessarily nefarious – just because there’s not a lot of people who are bidding on these...
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Paying for accountability: Founding and funding a...
In 2011, the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission assessed $7 million worth of fines for campaign finance violations. But because the commission, formerly known as the Georgia State Ethics Commission, couldn’t afford to send out notices by certified mail, fines against politicians, officials, and parties were cut to a total of around $1 million.
The inability of the...
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Accountability in Alabama: Ending special...
Legislative immunity in Alabama was once necessary to protect lawmakers from a surprising threat: The governor.
“In the olden days, it’s my understanding that the governor would send state police to arrest legislators to keep them from voting,” said Alabama Senator Arthur Orr. With a laugh, Orr added: “I don’t believe that’s a concern anymore.”
Orr (R-Decatur) is seeking to repeal the...
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Fines and financing: An attempt at campaign...
South Dakota Representative Jon Hansen thinks transparent campaign financing is worth more than $50 a day. That’s the fine that the state assesses campaigns for late reports, with a maximum total penalty of $3,000.
But Hansen (R-Dell Rapids) doesn’t like that wealthy campaigns can just put off filing a report until they see fit — or, in some cases, until after a nomination or election.
...
January 2012
3 posts
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Unsure independence: Political interference in...
Insurance commissioners are typically among the least-known, least-publicized officials in state government. Last month, one commissioner found a way to make news: Without warning, he resigned.
David Black (pictured, right) had only served as director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance for 10 months before he announced his resignation in an email to colleagues on Dec. 28. Black’s...
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Lobbyist or not? How a secretive group tried to...
Newt Gingrich, a presidential candidate, was paid $300,000 in 2006 by government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Does that make Gingrich (pictured, right), a former Congressman from Georgia and Speaker of the House, a lobbyist?
When Gingrich’s Republican opponents attempted to say it did, Gingrich rejected that idea and instead said he’d been paid for his “advice as an historian.” His...
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Politics and money in Missouri: Campaign finance...
Claire McCaskill, the senior senator representing Missouri in the U.S. Congress spent her first 20 years in politics running for office in her home state.
Earlier this month, McCaskill (pictured, right), who made an unsuccessful bid to be Missouri governor in 2004, likened Missouri’s current political finance system to the wild west — a time with a lack of rules and enforcement. Missouri is...
December 2011
5 posts
Five ways to get involved in your state
When dealing with state government, it’s easy for a citizen to feel helpless, overwhelmed, or unimpressed. But there’s no excuse not to get involved, at least on some level, with improving your state. Here are five easy ways to get yourself more involved in your state.
1.) Vote Americans are constantly bombarded with the latest news of a presidential election that’s more than...
State auditors: Unveiling uncomfortable truths,...
State auditors review various financial aspects of government agencies, legislative decisions and local government offices. Their analysis is compiled into reports, which are then sent to elements of state government and, in many cases, made available to the public. In state government, the role auditor is akin to a classroom tattletale.
A tattletale can’t actually send anyone to detention or...
Nepotism: Accepted in business, but troubling in...
In the corporate world, the practice of nepotism is not only tolerated, but common. Some of the richest people in America, and the world, have achieved much of their business success through their family connections: The Koch family, the Cargills, and the Waltons have accumulated vast sums of wealth through their parents’ and grandparents’ companies. Even the self-styled hard working...
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Massachusetts opens state's "checkbook" for public...
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is in need of a political reformation. The state’s last three Speakers of the House, all Democrats, have been convicted of felonies. Last week Salvatore DiMasi (pictured, right), the most recent of the disgraced former Speakers, entered a Kentucky prison to begin an eight year sentence for corruption.
Beyond the shadows of the Massachusetts Statehouse, the...
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Financial affairs: Bill Richardson’s ethics...
Bill Richardson had an admirable career as a member of the United States House of Representatives and an ambassador to the United Nations, where he was one of the country’s most capable negotiators in complex and sometimes dangerous international situations. Unfortunately, the ex-governor of New Mexico’s accomplishments have been undermined by his questionable dealings with campaign financing in...
November 2011
7 posts
4 tags
Redistricting: A shell game nobody wins?
Earlier this month, ProPublica released a music video to help explain the decision making process and the tactics applied during state redistricting.
In the style of the “Schoolhouse Rock!” videos, ProPublica’s Youtube production uses animation and music to make a dry subject into entertainment. But, while its tone is light, at its core the video reveals serious potential...
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Whistleblowers: Heroic in movies, important in...
In movies, the whistleblower is often a heroic figure.
Marlon Brando (pictured, right) won an Oscar for “On the Waterfront,” portraying a lowly dockworker who agrees to testify against his mob boss employers. In “All the President’s Men” Hal Holbrook furthered the legend as the Watergate scandal’s “Deep Throat,” later revealed to be former FBI Associate Director W. Mark Felt.
Then there’s...
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Wasteful state procurement: California’s budget...
When state budgets are balanced, with tax revenues covering state expenses, departments are sometimes left to spend money as they see fit.
That’s not the case right now.
When the bottom line turns from black to red, states turn a discerning eye to their different departments and agencies to see on what they’re spending money.
These days, no state has a worse debt crisis than California. In...
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The right to know: How the Pennsylvania government...
The Penn State University child sex abuse scandal has rocked the college football world and made the college town’s nickname of Happy Valley into a misnomer. The fallout from the disgrace has been swift and devastating. A legendary coach, a prominent athletics director and a university president all lost their jobs, and colleges around the country are asking serious questions about how...
