September 18, 2008
Financial disclosure for government volunteers
Should financial disclosure be limited for unpaid members of government boards and advisory councils? Local governments as diverse as St. Lawrence County and New York City are grappling with that question.
The proposed overhaul of the ethics law in St. Lawrence County has been met with skepticism by county legislators who call the rules "too invasive," the Watertown Daily Times reports.
Many of the county's advisory boards, which are composed of volunteers, have opposed the overhaul. It requires elected and appointed officials, department heads and their deputies and members of policy-making advisory boards to disclose employers, most investments, real estate holdings, gifts, political contributions, volunteer affiliations and debt.
Nine volunteers quit in 1991, the last time the ethics law was upgraded.
Nearly 400 miles to the south, the New York City Council, at the request of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, this week called off hearings on bill requiring board members of some nonprofit organizations to disclose their personal finances.
The Daily Politics blog reports aides to the mayor with representatives of New York Public Interest Research Group, Citizens Union and Common Cause to discuss the controversy.
The goo-goos recognize requiring the sort of well-heeled citizens who sit on boards of institutions like the Museum of Natural History to make public their finances would likely have a chilling effect on volunteerism, but they're equally concerned high-ranking public officials and lawmakers might be let off the hook in the process or rolling back disclosure requirements.
The Conflicts of Interest Board has been pushing to bring the city's disclosure requirements in line with the [state] 2005 Public Authorities Accountability Act.
Although they are unpaid, board members of public authorities, such as the MTA and Thruway Authority, yield enormous clout, deciding how to spend billions of dollars. The 2005 law was intended to require them to disclose potential conflicts of interest.
But the law's reach goes further. In a story, "Note to civic-minded: prepare to reveal riches," the New York Times explains:
...in the effort to improve oversight, some government-affiliated nonprofits, and their directors, got caught in the sweep, and the new reporting requirements are finally taking effect.
Board members of the Museum of Natural History may be required to file city financial disclosure statements, because they also oversee a quasi-public planetarium. Among them are Time-Warner Chairman Richard Parsons, billionaire David H. Koch and investment banker Roger Altman.
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