By Marta H. Mossburg|June 28, 2009
Maryland legislators are all for transparency when it comes to those who work outside of the government. But they prefer to hide from scrutiny when it comes to their own finances and affiliations.
State senators and delegates failed to pass a law in the 2008 legislative session requiring state officials to file financial disclosure documents electronically and ignored it in the most recent session. They so despise disclosure that the bill (SB190) did not pass even after an amendment exempting elected officials was added. This adds insult to injury, because the completed forms are not available online. To view them requires going to Annapolis during business hours.
They also chose to ignore again in the 2009 session a suggestion from the State Ethics Commission to "address membership by public officials on boards or directors of private corporations having sensitive business or regulatory involvement with the state."
This is particularly important because of the $4 billion in federal stimulus funds winding its way through state government to state contractors starting this year. As the newly released 2008 State Ethics Commission Annual Report shows, businesses want a piece of the pie. Lobbying expenditures in Maryland rose to $43.2 million in calendar year 2008 from $40.6 million in 2007, despite the recession.
An expanded rule requiring state legislators to also disclose their affiliations and any affiliations their immediate family members hold with nonprofits should also top their agenda. Many legislators sit on boards of nonprofits to which they direct taxpayer dollars. Sometimes family members of legislators work at the organizations they fund.
The hypocrisy of state legislators is particularly glaring in light of two recent pieces of legislation. The first is the Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2008. It made possible a new searchable online database of state spending over $25,000. (To view it, go to www.spending.dbm.maryland.gov.) More recently, the General Assembly passed HB1192. It requires any nonprofit or for-profit receiving more than $50,000 in state aid to disclose how they are using taxpayer money. The state is creating a searchable database for those forms, the first of which are due Sept. 1.
With newspapers struggling, fewer reporters cover the workings of the General Assembly and those of state houses across the country. That makes it ever more important for taxpayers to have access to how Maryland's elected and appointed officials are spending their money.
