D.C. Councilwoman Muriel Bowser’s proposal to create a separate ethics and government accountability commission, invested with sweeping powers including investigating and prosecuting violations, if approved, would be a major step toward restoring the public’s confidence in government. She has scheduled for Wednesday a hearing on ethics legislation, including her own and ideas proffered by her colleagues. The Ward 4 legislator and head of the Committee on Government Operations, told me Monday she would create the new commission by separating ethics responsibility from the current Board of Elections & Ethics and rolling in the office of open government. “We don’t just want to move the boxes,” she continued. “We want to have a professional staffer empowered to enforce, investigate and prosecute.
“It has to be as independent as possible, and its budget has to be protected. We wouldn’t want the mayor and council to zero out the ethics budget,” she said, adding the mayor, attorney general and council would each appoint one person to the three-member commission.
Bowser was unclear whether the new entity she has proposed would supplant or augment the work of the Office of Campaign Finance, which has been handling many of the ethics complaints through the BOEE. In my view, dismantling the OCF can’t happen soon enough. It has been ineffective, taking far too long to complete audits and investigations. It also has been far too lenient with misbehaving officials.
District residents have been crying for ethics reform for two years, following uberlawyer Robert Bennett’s report that found Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry provided a sole-source contract to his paramour and that some of the money may have found its way back to his wallet. Since then, there has been an epidemic of unethical behavior. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown and Ward 5 Councilman Harry “Tommy” Thomas Jr. are subjects of separate federal criminal investigations. But other lawmakers also have come under scrutiny.
Interestingly, there have been as many ethics reform proposals from elected officials as there have been violators of city rules and regulations. Brown and Ward 3’s Mary Cheh introduced a bill expanding the amount of information that must be disclosed by elected officials and others. Bowser also has pushed for more disclosure. Ward 6’s Tommy Wells has a legislative proposal that would “curtail and limit the financial contributions and favors lobbyists” can provide. He also wants to reduce from $80,000 to $20,000 the amount of money legislators can raise for their constituent services fund.
Bowser said the final omnibus bill will “cover coordination problems; loophole problems, strengthens disclosures; deals with constituent services funds; and creates committees for inaugurations and transitions.”
Providing, through legislation, the relief for which residents have pleaded won’t be enough. Bowser may want to include a provision that would prohibit any changes without the approval of nine council members. This may not completely prevent future tampering. But it certainly will make it harder for politicians to dilute important reforms.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
