Members of a special S.C. House ethics committee will report
within the next month how they believe ethics laws should
change.
Former House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, appointed the
committee in March as The State newspaper reported that dozens of
lawmakers incorrectly disclosed campaign contributions and that
there was little oversight of House members’ disclosures.
“South Carolina still has one of the most restrictive ethics laws
in the country,” said Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, who
is heading the committee.
“What we have learned, obviously, is that what few weaknesses we
have recognized have resulted because of members’ misunderstanding
or misinterpreting the law.”
The committee is reviewing a draft report, but Smith said he was
hesitant to give too many details before it is finished. Smith said
the committee likely will suggest creating a new reporting form for
lawmakers.
Every elected official in the state files the same campaign
finance form, and Smith said the committee believes legislators
could use one specifically for them.
The committee is also considering “a good bit of cleanup” of
state laws.
“Some statutes, because of the way they were written — like
double negatives — were being misinterpreted,” Smith said.
Lawmakers also are trying to root out contradictory laws. For
example, one laws says elected officials must report the occupations
of their contributors. Another law, however, says officials must
only keep those records — but not necessarily report them.
The State Ethics Commission, which enforces campaign finance law
for every elected official except for legislators, requires elected
officials to disclose occupations of contributors.
But the House Ethics Committee, which has jurisdiction over state
representatives and House candidates, does not require it. The
Senate had been requiring the disclosure until recently, when its
Ethics Committee decided to follow the House’s lead.
Meanwhile, House Ethics Committee chairman J. Roland Smith,
R-Aiken, has been hosting a series of voluntary seminars for House
members. About 60 members have attended, Smith said, at no cost to
the state.
Smith said that as the newspaper reported the problems House
members were having with disclosure, he wrote to Wilkins and
suggested the seminars.
The purpose, Smith said, is “to remind individuals of the state
law and to remind them if there was ever any doubt, to contact us in
the Ethics Committee and we’ll be happy to get them answers.”
Rep. Ben Hagood, R-Charleston, has attended one of Smith’s
seminars.
“As a practical matter, we have fairly complex ethics laws,”
Hagood said. “As a lawyer, I work pretty hard to understand the
actual laws. But then there’s the whole filling out the form and the
compliance side, the paperwork and documentation side that can be
complex as well.”
The state’s ethics laws “could certainly be clearer,” Hagood
said. “I think they are good laws, and I think everybody tries hard
to comply with them. (However) there are definite traps.
“At the end of the day, you’re busy, and you’ve got things going
on. You need to know how to do it and get it right.”
Smith said the House Ethics Committee is encouraging members to
use the electronic filing system already in place for lawmakers. It
allows legislators to enter campaign finance data on the computer
and send it directly to the House or Senate ethics committee. The
computer program does all the math calculations for lawmakers, which
helps reduce errors.
By this time next year, Smith said, he hopes a wider electronic
filing system is in place, where lawmakers are required to file over
the computer. That data also would be accessible for free by the
public, whereas now members of the public who want to see who is
giving their elected officials money must pay for paper copies.
A new campaign finance law adopted in 2003 calls for the new
electronic system, but the General Assembly just this year budgeted
the money to create it. While the State Ethics Commission, charged
with creating the system, has said it is doubtful that it will be up
and running before the 2006 elections, Gov. Mark Sanford has
publicly urged the commission to move more quickly.
Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com.
