May 13, 2007
To restore public confidence, open ethics hearings
Wib Gulley & Gene Arnold - News & Observer

Amid the jail sentences from the Jim Black scandal and the State Board of Elections' upcoming investigative hearings on several members of the state House, government transparency and accountability are taking on a paramount role.  
Public confidence in elected officials is at a critical point, and it's vital to find ways to strengthen and build citizen confidence in our state government. 
 
One strong example of accountability and sunshine in action begins this week. The State Board of Elections will open its public investigative hearings into the campaign finance practices of two prominent members of the House of Representatives. Open hearings by the Board of Elections are a standard practice today. 
Why can't the same hold true for the newly created Independent Ethics Commission that now has oversight over all three branches of government? 
 
We are two former state lawmakers from different political parties who differ on some of the important issues facing our state. However, we are in strong agreement on this point: Openness is vital to a well-functioning democracy. 
 
All North Carolinians should be proud that our state now has some of the toughest lobbying and ethics law in the South. Our state lawmakers deserve great praise for passing these important reforms in the past legislative session. However, there's one imperfection in the new law that diminishes the good work of those lawmakers and lessens the impact of the reforms in restoring public confidence. 
 
When the General Assembly created the Independent Ethics Commission last summer, it closed the proceedings of the commission to the public. Although creating an independent body to monitor the ethical actions of our public servants is a considerable step forward, closing the ethics hearings is not. 
 
Citizens deserve to have sunshine on the actions of their government, and the ethics commission should be no exception to that rule. Transparency, particularly in the area of ethics, is critical to ensuring government accountability. 
 
OPEN ETHICS PROCEEDINGS ARE NOT A NEW IDEA in North Carolina; in fact they're a tradition. For the past 30 years, ethics proceedings concerning executive branch officials have been open to the public. It's required by Executive Order No. 1, which has been reauthorized by every governor since 1977. 
 
Not only is openness the precedent, at least in the executive branch, it's something that seemed to have the support of lawmakers last summer. Two bills passed by the House last May, with near unanimous approval, called for both the Legislative Ethics Committee and the State Ethics Commission to hold open hearings (HB 1843 and HB 1844 respectively). 
 
Two state Senate bills (SB 1976 and SB 1694) proposed last May also called for open Ethics Commission hearings. Both bills, while never voted on in committee, were sponsored by a combined 31 out of 50 Senate members. Twenty eight of those Senators are current members. 
 
Clearly there was overwhelming support in both the House and Senate for open ethics hearings for both the Legislative Ethics Committee and the State Ethics Commission last summer. Importantly, nine other Southern states hold open hearings for their public officials. If they can do it, why can't we? 
There seems to be some concern that open ethics hearings could result in a free-for-all process in which unsubstantiated complaints against public officials unnecessarily damage reputations. We recognize that this is a valid concern, and that's why we support a process in which probable cause is determined first, in private, before proceeding to an open hearing process. 
 
AS FORMER LAWMAKERS, WE KNOW that a lawmaker's reputation is his or her most valuable asset and vital to earning the trust of constituents. 
The private preliminary investigation serves to protect public officials from unsupported ethics complaints being made public before they are verified. But once an ethics complaint is found to have probable cause, the following proceedings should be open to the public, as they are in most Southern states. 
 
And in the case of the legislature, if it's necessary to hold the ethics committee meeting in a closed or executive session, lawmakers should have the option to do so. These measures will safeguard the process against spurious claims and unjustified harm to a lawmaker's reputation. 
There are many challenges facing North Carolina and our lawmakers, but this is a simple fix to a bigger problem. Open ethics hearings will go a long way toward restoring and building public confidence, now and in the future. 
 
It's time to strengthen the credibility of our state government. We urge our former colleagues and friends to take the long view of this issue and to restore the beneficial light of public scrutiny to the proceedings of the Independent Ethics Commission. Our government and our state will be the better for it. 
 
(Gene Arnold is a former Republican state representative from Rocky Mount. Wib Gulley is a former Democratic state senator from Durham. Both are members of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform (www.nclobbyreform.org).)