Ethics Plan Praised as ‘Extraordinary’ : But Watchdog Group Urges Big Changes to Make Legislative Proposals Work

SACRAMENTO — California Common Cause on Friday praised as an “extraordinary effort” the Assembly’s newly proposed ethics reform for legislators but warned that major changes are necessary to make it work.

“We think that they have come up short, but that should not detract . . . from the massive, complete and deliberate effort to study the problem and forge a solution,” said Walter Zelman, executive director of the citizens lobbying organization. “These are major steps toward a solution, but major steps are needed still.”

In an analysis of the reform package, Common Cause said it was pleased that the Assembly proposal covers virtually all areas of ethical concern, with the exception of campaign financing. However, it cited loopholes that the organization said could potentially lead to lax enforcement.

“Its greatest weakness seems to be that it is too willing to rely on internal enforcement. Self-enforcement means weak enforcement,” Zelman said.

The proposal was fashioned by a special Assembly committee in the wake of years of criticism of ethics of legislators. The issue came to a head one year ago when the FBI raided Capitol offices of legislators during an investigation of suspected corruption.

As Common Cause, a good-government lobby, issued its analysis of the Assembly plan, Senate Democratic and Republican leaders were busy pitching their own draft proposal on ethics reform to California newspaper editors.

The Senate draft contains many of the same provisions as the Assembly proposal and the two probably will be melded into a compromise as the Legislature heads toward adjournment Sept. 15.

Initiatives in the Works

Meantime, several proposed ethics reform initiatives for next year’s ballot are in the works. Presumably, they would deal more severely with state officeholders than reforms enacted by the Legislature.

Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said although there is no agreement between the two houses yet, leaders of both have set ethics reform at the “top of our agenda.”

Roberti said in order to get citizens to “concentrate” on the Legislature’s handling of important issues, “we have to remove this obstacle--the obstacle of the negative perception that the public has of the Legislature.”

Zelman observed that “legislators are very concerned that the public is losing confidence in the Legislature and government in general. They may see it as a matter of perception, but we see it as a matter of reality.”

The Assembly Ethics Committee plan, released earlier this month, takes a broad swipe at reforming ethical standards for elected officials and their staffs. Among its provisions, the committee’s proposal would:

- Establish an independent, nine-member citizens salary commission to set legislative pay, benefits and tax-free expense accounts.

- Place a $1,000 limit on the amount legislators can receive for speeches or appearances from a single source until establishment of the salary commission, when such payments would be prohibited.

- Ban the acceptance by legislators of most gifts, with some exceptions, and mandate disclosure of all gifts, including gifts of travel, worth more than $50.

- Prevent former legislators and their staffs from working as lobbyists for one year after leaving office.

Zelman said the major concern with the Assembly package was the committee’s recommendation that the reforms first be enacted as rules and enforced by the Legislature itself before they are actually set into law.

‘An Excuse to Object’

“We are concerned that they would then use the adoption of rules as an excuse to object to putting those items down as law,” Zelman said.

Common Cause also took issue with the Assembly plan to make the ban on honorariums contingent upon voter approval of the establishment of the citizens salary commission, Zelman said. The Assembly plan also does not go far enough in subjecting legislators and elected state officials to conflict-of-interest laws that apply to locally elected officials, he said.

Senate leaders are seeking support for their own plan, which deals with most of the same issues as the Assembly proposal. But among the differences, the Senate plan would:

- Ban all honorariums, but only if voters approve creation of a citizens salary commission.

- Prohibit gifts to elected officials worth more than $250 from any person, corporation, union or lobbyist employer.

- Limit the amount of outside income earned by legislators to 30% of annual salary. Legislative salaries now are $40,816.

Zelman said the Senate proposal is “harder to assess because it is not elaborate in its detail and there were no public hearings. But it seems to be in the same ballpark” as the Assembly ethics package.

Zelman criticized the Senate draft as too lenient on its limitation of gifts. He said the study’s criticism of the Assembly plan concerning conflict of interest and linking the honorariums ban to the creation of a salary commission also applied to the Senate plan.