Jul 25, 2007
Ethics in the open 
N.C. Senate proposal would open hearings to the public
Editorial - Charlotte Observer

House and Senate leaders appear ready to take care of some nagging flaws in new ethics legislation adopted the past two legislative sessions. That's encouraging news. 
 
One change in the works would require public hearings when investigators for the Legislative Ethics Committee or the State Ethics Commission determine that an ethics complaint has merit. 
 
The current version of the law doesn't mandate open sessions, and reform-minded legislators as well as advocates for open government fretted that closed hearings would keep the public from finding out about official wrongdoing. Opening most if not all hearings to public scrutiny, as uncomfortable as that might be, is the best way to assure the public that complaints about public officials are being handled correctly. 
 
The Senate Select Committee on Government and Election Reform is considering adding the open-hearings requirement to a House bill that makes technical changes in the law. House Speaker Joe Hackney also has expressed support for more transparency in the process. The committee should draw the open-hearings requirement as broadly as it can. 
 
House and Senate leaders should make several other changes to current law. 
 
• They should support House bill 1737 requiring elected officials who raise contributions for a legal defense fund to disclose the amounts and donors of those contributions. Without such disclosure, it's not possible for the public to know who's contributing to elected officials and, perhaps, gaining access that other citizens would not have. Former Speaker Jim Black's legal defense fund donors were not made public, an obvious gap in the state's political contribution disclosure laws that otherwise lets the public know who's giving to whom. 
 
• Lawmakers should further tighten limits on the financial relationship between lobbyists and legislators. Current law prohibits lobbyists from making campaign contributions to lawmakers, but it does allow lobbyists to arrange fundraisers and otherwise help lawmakers raise money to run election campaigns. Well-connected lobbyists can help raise tons of money for lawmakers, creating the impression of a cozy, obligatory relationship that poisons North Carolina politics. The legislature would be wise to forbid lobbyists from raising campaign contributions or any other items of value for legislators. 
 
• Legislators ought to close a loophole that allows political parties to make big donations to candidates. More than two dozen states limit the amount of money political parties can donate to candidates. Legislators should impose the same contribution limits on party contributions as on individual contributions: $4,000 per election. Allowing political parties to give unlimited amount is simply an invitation to avoid state restrictions on campaign contributions and gain an unfair electoral advantage that has no place in N.C. politics.