Spokane7
33°
As
the governor’s transportation funding task force opened its meeting
this morning, one member, Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, took the
opportunity to formally disclose a possible conflict of interest. She
both made a statement and submitted a written notice, noting, “My
private sector employer is the Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho.
My employer may be impacted by the work of this committee. I want to
formally and publicly disclose this potential conflict of interest and
uphold the state Senate rules and my oath of office”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Should more political figures in local and state offices declare conflicts of interest?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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TerryHarris on August 31 at 12:21 p.m.
To answer your question, government officials should be bound to declare conflicts of interest. And, by the way, a declaration is not enough. Officials should be recused from acting on issues where they have a conflict.
Whether MORE of them should declare? I don’t know. Yes, certainly if there’s a conflict, they should ALL declare. But it would perhaps be better if they simply avoided the conflicts in the first place.
sue on August 31 at 2:12 p.m.
They ought to withdraw from participation and voting on any issue from which they could gain financially. I doubt that ever happens. Most point to the “citizen legislature” excuse which gives them all an out on their voting. The claim being that they are just citizens doing their job, and most issues that come before them will affect each one equally. I’ve always considered that a pretty broad cop-out. I noticed it especially when the long-term legislator Wayne Meyer, also a grass-grower in the CDA area, would promote and push through legislation financially benefiting grass-growers. Never understood how anyone could consider that ethical.