COMMENTARY: Tighter ethics rules still not strict enough for some Hoosier lawmakers

That algebraic question was posed to Indiana legislators during mandatory ethics training this week at the start of the 2017 session of the General Assembly.

In 2015, the Legislature passed a package of ethics reforms intended to increase transparency in government after a wave of embarrassing scandals that included allegations of self-dealing and undue influence.

Lawmakers must now be trained annually on rules that mandate they disclose more information about their personal finances and any lobbying activities of their family members.

The reforms brought with them more paperwork. The rules don't bar gifts of food, drink and entertainment from lobbyists, but legislators must disclose details of meals shared with, or gifts from, any of the 1,600 lobbyists registered to do business in Indiana.

Any lobbyist gift over $50 in a single day must be reported, down to the dollar amount.

Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) left the tedious ethics session with heightened hopes for a bill he filed this week.

It would ban all gifts from lobbyists or their employers, including food and drink, to individual legislators and their families. Ten states have such rules, under what’s known as “no-cup-of-coffee” laws.

“I left that training and my thought was, 'This helps my proposal,'” Delph said. “It’s just so much simpler to say you’ve can’t have gifts.”

Most states, including Indiana, have laws that prohibit legislators from accepting any gift or anything of value for being influenced in the performance of his or her duties.

But Delph, an Indianapolis Republican who’s made his mark by challenging GOP leadership, thinks that's bunk. Lawmakers still get sumptuous meals, Colts tickets and other freebies — even if no purpose is specified.

“When people give you gifts, there’s a reason behind it,” he said. “Those offers go away as soon as you leave the Legislature."

The disclosure requirements irritate some legislators, who think they’ve gone too far and are too cumbersome.

Not Delph. The other part of his bill would require lobbyists to log all communication with lawmakers. In essence it would make any of their conversations — including those conducted by email, text, or any form of social media — part of the public record.

Penalty for non-compliance? Possible jail time for a lobbyist, and internal sanctions against lawmakers – though Delph is open to upping the penalties for them, too.

Delph said it's the “right thing to do” and argues it would guard against the temptation to be influenced to do something that’s not in best interests of those who sent the lawmaker to Indianapolis.

“We are elected by group of people in a geographically defined area to advance their interests — the constituents’ interests,” he said.

“And anything that impedes the relationship between the elected official and the constituents in their district, I think needs to be removed."

How far will Delph’s bill get in a long legislative session that’s already dominated by big issues of road and school funding? Maybe not far.

Legislative leaders who crafted the last ethics reforms did so with the notion that disclosure was better than prohibition, arguing that sunshine was an effective disinfectant.

Those rules came after some embarrassing revelations about state officials, including that of a now-retired top Republican House leader who'd privately lobbied his fellow Republicans to kill a proposed ban on nursing home construction that would have hurt his family’s business. A House investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, but he was later stripped of leadership roles.

Delph doesn’t seem bothered by long odds.

Asked about the bill’s chances, his said, “I never go into a legislative project worrying about that. I try to do what I think is right and then I let legislative process work.”