Northwest Indiana Discussion

It shouldn't take a scandal
Posted: December 27, 2009 in the Indianapolis Star
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091227/OPINION08/912270330/1291/OPINION08/It-shouldn-t-take-a-scandal
In Louisiana last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal pushed a comprehensive ethics reform package through the state legislature. The new laws bar elected officials from accepting free tickets to college and pro sporting events as well as free golf trips. The value of food and drinks offered to public officials and their staffs was capped at $50 per meal, a move that stopped lobbyists from enticing legislators with lavish dinners.
Florida has gone even further than Louisiana. Under that state's 2005 lobbying reform law, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed to stand, lobbyists are banned from giving any gifts to elected leaders.

Ethics reform also is thriving in the West. Utah legislators this year approved a $50 cap on the value of gifts and meals they're allowed to accept from lobbyists. Some lawmakers later complained that they didn't understand what they had voted for, after they learned that the cap blocks one of their favorite perks: free tickets to the NBA's Utah Jazz games.
In Indiana, meanwhile, the heavy stream of expensive gifts -- including fancy meals at top restaurants, tickets to Colts and Pacers games, and out-of-state golf trips -- continues to flow unimpeded. In the most recent annual reporting period, House Speaker Pat Bauer, for example, accepted a $2,900 trip to Puerto Rico from the Indiana Motor Truck Association. AT&T showered more than $4,200 in gifts, including a Texas golf trip, on state Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon.

While their peers in other states have acted to protect the public's best interests, Indiana lawmakers have continued to look out for their own, until recently blocking any serious efforts for ethics reform.

Indiana legislators repeatedly have fallen back on the argument that the Statehouse has yet to be ripped apart by a lobbying-induced scandal.
Yet, that's precisely what happened in Tennessee, where four legislators were caught up in an FBI bribery investigation in 2005. Six months after news of that scandal broke, Tennessee legislators finally adopted tougher ethical standards. But the damage to their reputation and the state's already was done.

In Louisiana last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal pushed a comprehensive ethics reform package through the state legislature. The new laws bar elected officials from accepting free tickets to college and pro sporting events as well as free golf trips. The value of food and drinks offered to public officials and their staffs was capped at $50 per meal, a move that stopped lobbyists from enticing legislators with lavish dinners.
Florida has gone even further than Louisiana. Under that state's 2005 lobbying reform law, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed to stand, lobbyists are banned from giving any gifts to elected leaders.

Ethics reform also is thriving in the West. Utah legislators this year approved a $50 cap on the value of gifts and meals they're allowed to accept from lobbyists. Some lawmakers later complained that they didn't understand what they had voted for, after they learned that the cap blocks one of their favorite perks: free tickets to the NBA's Utah Jazz games.
In Indiana, meanwhile, the heavy stream of expensive gifts -- including fancy meals at top restaurants, tickets to Colts and Pacers games, and out-of-state golf trips -- continues to flow unimpeded. In the most recent annual reporting period, House Speaker Pat Bauer, for example, accepted a $2,900 trip to Puerto Rico from the Indiana Motor Truck Association. AT&T showered more than $4,200 in gifts, including a Texas golf trip, on state Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon.

While their peers in other states have acted to protect the public's best interests, Indiana lawmakers have continued to look out for their own, until recently blocking any serious efforts for ethics reform.

Indiana legislators repeatedly have fallen back on the argument that the Statehouse has yet to be ripped apart by a lobbying-induced scandal.
Yet, that's precisely what happened in Tennessee, where four legislators were caught up in an FBI bribery investigation in 2005. Six months after news of that scandal broke, Tennessee legislators finally adopted tougher ethical standards. But the damage to their reputation and the state's already was done.