Mar 30, 2007
Behind closed doors
Editorial - Winston-Salem Journal

State legislators reluctantly passed an ethics-reform bill last year — watered-down though it was — and, just in case it actually caught anyone in a compromised position, they hid the process from public view. 
 
To abide by the N.C. Constitution’s separation of powers edicts, the three branches of government each have their own ethics-enforcement processes.  
 
The new law works one way for lawmakers and another for state employees and executive-branch elected officials. In both cases, the charges will be hidden from the public. 
The Judicial Standards Commission, established long ago, covers judges and is more open to the public. 
 
If allegations are filed against a governor or a state employee, the State Ethics Commission will investigate, consider the charges and then hold a hearing if necessary. In the past, this process was public. Not any more. 
 
If allegations are filed against a legislator, the Legislative Ethics Commission will investigate and hold hearings. This, too, used to be open. Now it is closed. 
 
This means that the public won’t see either the allegations against state officials and workers or how effectively the hearing panels work. 
 
Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, recently told his local paper that legislative secrecy is needed because the judicial system offers it. We don’t understand the logic there. If complaints against judges are shielded from public scrutiny, why do legislators need that same protection? They don’t. 
 
Especially since lawmakers now have stronger protection from public scrutiny than do judges. The hearing process for judges, before the standards commission, is public. Legislators before their own ethics committee will be there with the doors closed. 
 
Another Fayetteville Democrat, Rep. Rick Glazier, told The Charlotte Observer that the new law maintains a balance between openness and the privacy protection people need from unsubstantiated charges. That’s bunk, too. 
 
The American system of justice is based on the open airing of charges. Once police determine there is probable cause for a formal criminal charge, once the boards that oversee doctors, lawyers and other professionals determine there is sufficient evidence for a formal process, all hearings are open. But that won’t be the case with legislators and other state officials. 
 
That means there will be no public scrutiny of the process when lawmakers are found not guilty or when they are privately reprimanded by the committee of their peers. And there is no guarantee that executive-branch employees or officials will ever be identified if they are found guilty. 
 
This law must be changed this session, and the public should get a full view of the charges and evidence filed against their public officials.