Ethics Dispute

Ethics Dispute

A potential ethics violation involving an unnamed legislator is at the heart of a dispute over which state agency has the right to enforce state ethics laws. Republican State Auditor Les Merritt argues that it never hurts to have more watchdogs eyeing government officials. But lawmakers who supported the ethics laws -- approved in the wake of scandals involving lawmakers and public officials -- say their goal was to create a single, unbiased agency to keep an eye on public officials. On Wednesday, the legislature's ethics committee agreed to a bill that would prohibit the state auditor from investigating possible ethics law violations. Instead, the State Ethics Commission would have sole authority to enforce ethics laws.

Officials in Merritt's office argue that giving the ethics commission sole authority to investigate such matters would mean essentially that only the legislature can keep an eye on legislators. That's because the commission is required to turn over any findings it has about lawmakers to a legislative committee, which then determines whether any public action should be taken. Legislative leaders say there are good reasons -- based in politics and the state's constitution -- to keep the auditor out of the picture. The North Carolina Constitution prohibits executive branch agencies from sanctioning lawmakers. Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said the law was designed to have a nonpartisan commission, not an elected official such as the auditor, review ethics cases. The commission includes four Democrats and four Republicans. "He's a political entity," Basnight said of Merritt. "He could be a Republican or a Democrat."

The issue surfaced when an anonymous tipster contacted the auditor's office about a potential ethics violation involving the legislator, wrote Tim Hoegemeyer, general counsel to in Merritt's office, in a letter to the Legislative Ethics Committee. Investigators pulled the legislator's ethics paperwork, listing property holdings, business interests, stock portfolios and other economic interests. In the course of its investigation, the auditor's office learned that the legislator, who has not been publicly identified, had asked the Ethics Commission for an advisory opinion. The commission, which is required to keep much of its work secret, declined to help. Merritt's office finished its investigation and drafted a report on the legislator. The report has yet to be released. The ethics commission says it cannot by law discuss the case.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said lawmakers shouldn't be too quick to shut out the auditor. Berger said he is concerned about the openness of ethics cases involving lawmakers. "It seems to me from a policy standpoint that a process that either has some independence or openness, or both, is what we need as much as possible," he said. Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, a nonpartisan government watchdog, said the state's new ethics system should be given a chance to work. He said he supports having the ethics commission enforce the ethics law. "I think it's fair to trust that a bipartisan committee is going to find the right answer," Phillips said.

(Benjamin Niolet, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/15/08).