Julia Vaughn takes a rather dim view of the consulting work some Indiana lawmakers do to supplement their incomes.
“Consulting is a nice way to benefit financially from the relationships built inside the Statehouse and really not have to disclose that in the same way you would a campaign contribution,” Vaughn told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
“That’s one of the big problems with the statements of economic interest. The forms don’t ask the right questions. They have lofty goals in terms of providing transparency, but they miss the mark.”
Vaughn, the executive director of Common Cause Indiana, was referring to the reports legislators are required to file each year disclosing their financial interests.
It was on just such a form that House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) revealed he had started a private consulting firm. According to the statement, Huston’s company, TMH Strategies Inc., has two clients, the Fishers-based tech company Spokenote and the for-profit education management organization Stride Inc.
“It’s all business consulting in areas that I’ve been in and obviously have a lot of expertise,” Huston told the Chronicle. “I listed both my clients, and I will continue to do that. I understand the role I am in, and I don’t want anybody to go, ‘Well, who could his clients be?’” Days later, the Chronicle reported that one of Huston’s clients, Stride Inc., stood to rake in about $9 million in additional revenue through a change in the funding formula for virtual schools. The state had been providing funding for those schools at 85% of the amount provided to brick-and mortar schools, but both would be funded at the same level under the budget approved by the Indiana House of Representatives.
Huston supported the budget, and he insists the higher funding level is justified, but is he saying that as a public servant or as a private consultant? Whose interests come first? His or the taxpayer’s?
Huston isn’t alone in such divided loyalties. He’s one of at least 15 legislators who provide professional advice and guidance to private businesses.
Vaughn says if lawmakers are serious about avoiding conflicts of interest they should adopt enforcement mechanisms such as random audits. She also wants to see the forms more regularly updated “to better reflect the work situations that legislators increasingly have,” and to require “more specificity — asking questions that take us from this 40,000-foot view to a much more up close and meaningful disclosure.”
And then, of course, there needs to be enforcement.
“They just sit electronically in a sort of virtual filing cabinet, and nobody’s checking up on them,” she said. “Is this accurate? Is this complete? It’s not terribly useful.”
Legislators tend to take notice of ethics concerns when there’s a scandal, Vaughn said, but that’s the wrong approach.
“It needs to be something that is looked at regularly,” she said, “and not just when they think they’ve got a problem.”
Indiana has a citizen legislature. Nearly all of our elected representatives have other jobs, making conflicts of interest unavoidable.
The remedy is complete transparency. Lawmakers should bend over backward to ensure constituents they are operating in a manner that is open and above board.
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