Not much sting in ethics fines

Proposed penalties for unreported trips show the need for a more independent watchdog
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Oregonian - Editorial

Many Oregonians are likely to think seven state legislators are getting off fairly easy for going on undisclosed lobbyist-paid trips to Maui.

The penalties being considered today by the ethics commission -- civil fines of $150 per violation -- do seem mild. That's especially so when you consider that the offending lawmakers can lawfully pay these fines with campaign money instead of their own money.

Obviously, the Legislature needs to repair that law, as recommended by two public commissions studying ethics reforms last year. Both groups called for much stronger limits on how candidates can spend campaign contributions, including a ban on using such loot to pay criminal or civil fines.

The seven lawmakers broke no laws or legislative rules by going on the lavish Hawaii excursions in 2002 and 2004 at the expense of Oregon beer and wine distributors. However, the seven failed to report the trips, averaging at least $2,500 in value, as required by state law.

Several of them offered lame excuses: The distributors' lobbyist told them they didn't have to report the outings, and he failed to give them written notice of the trips' value.

Ronald Bersin, the ethics commission's executive director, voiced sympathy for those excuses in announcing his proposed settlements this week. His $150-per-violation formula means no legislator will be fined more than $450, the amount assessed to those who not only failed to report their Maui junket but also played free rounds of golf that exceeded the state limit on gifts to officials.

Bersin reserved his steepest fine for the lobbyist, Paul Romain, who also failed to disclose the trips and was tagged for $4,100. That will be pocket change to his association, which has spent millions on legislators over the past three decades making sure Oregon's beer and wine taxes stay at 1973 levels.

The Maui trip fines spotlight the need for Senate Bill 10, a reform package urged by the Oregon Law Commission. The bill would provide independent funding for the ethics commission, freeing it from the purse strings held by legislators whose conduct it oversees.

The existing system put Bersin in an unenviable conflict. He had to call for fines, for example, against Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton, a member of the Senate Rules Committee, which has a history of hostility toward the ethics commission, at times amid talk of eliminating it.

It may be a good thing that Bersin chose not to throw a grenade by seeking severe penalties in the Maui case. Right now in Oregon it's far more important that legislators pull together and pass the clean-government reforms embodied in SB10.

Oregon's wayward lawmakers and lobbyist will think twice before running off to the islands together again and trying to keep it quiet. And if their fines seem low, they have already felt the greater sting of having their names in print repeatedly along with the words "Maui," "junket" "golfing" and "undisclosed."