When the Maryland General Assembly has to force the Prince George’s County Ethics Board to hold meetings, “toothless” comes instantly to mind. Unfortunately, that word does not even come close to describing the lack of oversight and accountability that is made possible by such an ethics panel and which is thus at the root of the county’s scandalous “pay-to-play” reputation. Indeed, the board did not investigate a single ethics violation last year, even as former County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife were being investigated by the FBI in a public corruption sting. The new law, backed by current County Executive Rushern Baker and signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley, requires the volunteer board to meet at least twice a year and to pick an executive director to attend to business on a daily basis. Board members are also required to meet annually with elected public officials. Any activity is obviously better than doing absolutely nothing, but meetings alone are not enough.

The County Council got closer to the real problem when it barred newly elected Leslie Johnson, D-Mitchellville, from exercising a council member’s customary ability to control development projects in their own districts. Although the law imposes new restrictions on council members’ ability to hold up projects for more than 205 days, and to vote on projects if the slate they ran on received campaign donations from the developer, Prince George’s is still the only county in Maryland in which elected politicians have the power to control development. So the temptation to demand secret payola in the form of jobs for relatives and political cronies, or “donations” to favorite charities or civic groups in exchange for a green light, remains.