Ethics Watchdog Chair: Beef Up Power to Investigate, Punish
By Cheryl Forchilli
If a sports car barreling down the interstate at 120 miles an hour passes a Florida Highway Patrol officer, we expect that officer to flip on the lights, stop the speeder, and make our roads safer.
Wouldn’t the public be angry if the Legislature passed a law that forced the officer to stay parked by the side of the road, patiently waiting for a concerned citizen to pull up, sign a sworn statement describing the speeder’s actions, and ask the officer to please look into it?
Yet, that’s exactly how the Florida Commission on Ethics is forced to operate. Under the current laws, the commission cannot open an investigation until a citizen files a sworn complaint. And that citizen must bear the risk of being sued for attorney fees by the public official if the complaint is not found to be valid.
The commission is a panel of nine citizen volunteers, appointed by the governor, speaker of the House and Senate president, charged with investigating and prosecuting complaints against public officials accused of violating state ethics laws. Florida’s constitution mandates the creation of an ethics commission, but it’s up to the Legislature to decide how it’s structured, what process it follows, and what laws it enforces.
News media coverage often portrays the commission as “toothless” and ineffective. In some cases, the media is correct, pointing out when weak laws prevent the commission from taking action against an official who has clearly failed to live up to the expectations we all have for our public servants.
Right now, Floridians are skeptical that anyone is protecting the public trust. Each time people see a public official get a slap on the wrist for misconduct, they become increasingly apathetic, cynical and angry, and that erodes the very foundations of our democracy.
Three Ways to Toughen Laws
This year, the commission has proposed a package of legislation that would toughen Florida’s ethics laws and give the commission more power to enforce them. Here are a few of the highlights of the package:
Limited investigative authority: Give the commission the ability to investigate complaints without a citizen complaint in two circumstances: if certain officials (the governor, the CFO, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and a few others) refer the case, or if reliable information has been widely and publicly disseminated. In both cases, a super-majority of the commission would have to vote to open the investigation. (Because the commission is required by statute to have members of both political parties, requiring a super-majority means members of both parties would have to agree.) The existence of the investigation would remain confidential until after the commission votes on probable cause.
Increased fines: Currently, the maximum fine allowed by statute is $10,000. The commission has to reserve the maximum fine for the most egregious violators and therefore typically hands out fines in the $1,000 to $4,000 range. The public and media scoff at these fines as slaps on the wrist, just the cost of doing business. The commission has proposed an increase in the maximum fine (up to $100,000) to serve as a greater deterrent and enable it to impose fines that really fit the severity of the offense.
Voting conflicts: Currently, if a vote on a specific measure would cause a local official, his family or employer to suffer a gain or loss, the official has to abstain from the vote. But the official is permitted to influence the process and lobby other officials without disclosing his or her conflict until the moment of the vote. The commission has suggested that an official with a conflict should not be able to participate in the process in any way, and staff should be prohibited from acting on his or her behalf as well.
In the wake of the ethics scandals that have rocked the state from one end to the other over the past 18 months, we hoped legislative leadership would recognize the need for these changes and take charge of shepherding the legislation through the process. So far, that hasn’t happened.
Unless Floridians get involved and demand action, we won’t see meaningful ethics reform this session. Or perhaps ever.
Cheryl Forchilli is chair of the Florida Commission on Ethics.
