- Can a state representative vote for raises for employees of the General Assembly in which his wife was recently hired. Isn’t this an ethics violation?
- Can our local congressman accept free loge season passes to local University football games?
- What top 3 lobbyists spent the most money on the Ohio General Assembly last year?
The last few weeks my posts have covered ethics rules and violations, first for the Executive branch and public officials and then for judges, court personnel and attorneys.
There are three state ethics agencies, within the three branches of government, which oversee and administer Ohio Ethics Law:
- •The Ethics Commission for the entire Executive branch and all other state and local public officials and employees; posted here.
- •The Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline for judges, lawyers and court employees; posted here.
- •The Joint Legislative Ethics Commission (JLEC) for members and employees of the General Assembly.”
Source of quote
Today we will look at the last ethics agency- the Joint Legislative Ethics Commission (JLEC). The JLEC is managed by the Office of the Legislative Inspector General (OLIG) and you will see both names mentioned on the JLEC web site. The committee members for the JLEC and staff for the OLIG are listed on the web site.
The JLEC/OLIG is responsible for enforcing the ethics laws for members of the legislature, employees and candidates for the Ohio House and Senate. Just like the other ethics enforcing agencies, there are specific ethics laws, financial disclosure statements and advisory opinions. The JLEC has one extra duty associated with ethics which we will look at in a moment. The OLIG is also responsible for enforcing and registering lobbyists.
The JLEC-OLIG web site has navigational links along the top. Clicking the ETHICS link opens a drop down menu. You will see listed :
Joint Legislative Code of Ethics. You can select the full version or a summary. Some of the rules govern confidential information, compensation, improper influence, conduct, proper use of staff, campaign funds use, and rules concerning accepting honorariums.
Advisory Opinions. Another option on the Ethics link is issued advisory opinions. These are sought by the person to whom the opinion is directed. If the official follows the issued opinion, they are immune from criminal prosecutions, civil suits or action for removal. The Advisory Opinions from 1995 to the current are posted here.
Revolving Door Law and Post Employment Disclosure. Here is the JLEC’s new responsibility. In May 2005, Ohio law went into effect applying post employment restrictions. The law now requires state elected officers and specified staff to disclose to the JLEC-OLIG, whether the person, after leaving state employment, will receive any income from lobbyist or entities that were awarded state contracts of $100,000 or more in the previous two years. The “Revolving Door Law” applies to all members and staff of the General Assembly. See here for a more detailed explanation
The Post Employment Disclosure information and the list of who is suppose to file can be found here. The public search for previously filed disclosure forms is found here.
Other links under ETHICS include:
Financial Disclosure (lists who needs to file the FDS and searching previously filed forms). NOTE: the link for searching previously filed Financial Disclosure Statement does not seem to work. I have already reported this error to the JLEC.
Report A Violation. Instructions on how to report an ethics violation plus the phone number 614-728-5100.
Lobbying
You will also want to look at the LOBBYING link on the JLEC web page. Here you will find Ohio Lobbying Laws, lobbying statistics and under Public Resources, you can find the current list of registered lobbyists.
Answers to the above questions:
1. Can a state representative vote for raises for a General Assembly department in which his wife is employed. Isn’t this an ethics violation?
No, it does not violate ethics laws. This is permitted. See Advisory Opinion 00-006, dated Dec. 13, 2000
2. Can our local congressman accept free loge season passes to local University football games?
Probably not. See the rules about gifts, Disclosure Statement section 2(E) and Compensation section 5(B).
3. For 2008, which 3 lobbyist spent the most money on the Ohio General Assembly?
- Wholesale Beer and Wine Association
- Ohio Association of Realtors
- Ohio Environmental Council
