San Benito County Supervisors today will discuss whether the
county should form an ethics commission.
The answer should be an unequivocal ‘yes.’
San Benito County Supervisors today will discuss whether the county should form an ethics commission.
The answer should be an unequivocal ‘yes.’
In the last year, San Benito County has suffered through a lot of turmoil – from Measure G to the District 5 election mess – and establishing an ethics commission can help remove the tarnish from local government’s reputation.
An ethics commission would not only be good for the county’s reputation, it also can be a powerful tool to ensure politicians and government officials toe the line.
An ethics commission can provide a formal process to ensure campaigns are financed and run according to the law – clarifying the rules for all candidates, and giving people a process to redress their grievances if they think there is something fishy about a campaign.
Such a process would have been a boon for the county in the March District 5 election, which, instead, has turned into a boondoggle. While it appears Jaime De La Cruz beat incumbent Bob Cruz by 10 votes, it’s now late August and he is still facing possible charges of voter fraud that could overturn the results. If there were an ethics commission to investigate the race, the matter could be settled by now.
But an ethics commission can have an influence beyond the county’s political races. It could weigh in on whether elected officials have a conflict of interest, keep an eye on lobbyists, investigate wistleblower complaints and monitor how county contracts are handed out.
An ethics commission is only in the embryonic stages and has no scope of work, definitions of its powers or statements on who can be a member.
We have some suggestions:
n It should be composed of residents who do not hold office or are employed by the government at any level
n It should enforce campaign rules and regulations, but also weigh in on matters like conflicts of interest for seated politicians
n It should be able to investigate government conduct if it is tipped off to problems
n It should be given enough power to compel answers in an investigation and ensure its recommendations will be binding.
Supervisors will look at by-laws for ethics commissions in San Jose and San Francisco, which are good models to follow.
If the commission is given teeth and a broad scope, it will provide a formal process that will prevent the county from having a knee-jerk reaction every time a problem surfaces.
Supervisor Pat Loe, who also has been a proponent of campaign finance reform, proposed looking into an ethics committee, and should be commended for doing so. She wants the county to be in a position where it doesn’t have to scramble to respond to problems.
“We don’t need to be reactionary about a lot of these things,” Loe said Monday. “It’s time to be positive.”
Having an ethics committee with a well-defined scope of work – and enough power to be relevant – will go a long way in doing that.
To send a comment on this issue, please e-mail
ed****@fr***********.com
or bring a letter by or send it to 350 Sixth St, Hollister CA 9023.
