The Montgomery County Ethics Commission — the independent body charged with overseeing conflicts of interest across county government — is unable to effectively oversee those conflicts, officials say.
Montgomery County law requires the county executive, council members, employees in the county’s legislative and executive branches, and numerous other employees to disclose their assets and revenue sources when they begin and end work with the county and every year in between. In reality, many filings are late or never submitted, especially those that employees are supposed to file before they leave their position, Inspector General Edward Blansitt said.
Blansitt reviewed the financial disclosure process in a report expected to be released in the coming weeks, and found that “it’s not functioning as smoothly as it should,” he told The Washington Examiner. He pointed primarily to the department’s small size.
The department had a fiscal 2012 budget of $191,430 and has two paid staff members — a staff director who acts as legal counsel for the commission and an administrator. It provides support to the county’s four volunteer members of the Ethics Commission, all of whom have full-time jobs.
“A two-person staff with really only one professional person is tough,” Blansitt said. “[Staff Director Robert Cobb is] overwhelmed with work — I think that would be a reasonable characterization of what I’ve heard from him.”
The department has had two people since fiscal 2010, when one staff member was eliminated. The department’s average response time for routine requests increased from 15 days in fiscal 2009 to 40 in fiscal 2011, budget documents show.
Cobb joined the department as director last summer. The previous director, Barbara McNally, could not be reached for comment.
Another problem is that the disclosures are filed electronically on a system that only current employees can access, so former employees have a hard time filing, Blansitt said. Legally the county is supposed to withhold employees’ final pay until they file, but that is usually not done.
Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine, who reports to County Executive Ike Leggett, will begin overseeing financial disclosure filings soon, according to county budget documents. He was unavailable for comment.
The change makes sense since the Ethics Commission often lacks information necessary to properly process the filings, Cobb said, insisting that the move is not the result of any staffing shortage.
In addition to overseeing financial disclosure filings, the office’s other responsibilities include approving county employees’ outside employment, monitoring registered county lobbyists, advising the county on matters related to county ethics laws and investigating potential ethics code violations.
Though Blansitt also found problems with the lobbying reporting process, he declined to discuss them in advance of further investigation.
