MAS Comments on the Release of Task Force Report

Thursday, December 10, 2009

In recent years, Philadelphians have stated loudly and clearly that they do not want this City to be known as corrupt and contented.

And, Mayor Nutter and City Council have listened, working together to pass some of the most significant ethics and campaign finance laws in this country.

Philadelphia is the first city in Pennsylvania to put limits on campaign contributions.
Philadelphia capped the amount of contributions by those seeking no-bid contracts.
Philadelphia created an independent Board of Ethics to enforce these new laws.

While the new laws are working, the experiences over the last few years have demonstrated that there is still room for improvement.

The Task Force is made up of a fabulous group of hardworking, dedicated volunteers who performed a comprehensive review of the City’s laws and the best practices of other cities and states.

We spent fourteen months together, meeting as a group more than 20 times, holding two public hearings, and meeting individually with more than 50 interested parties.

Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finanace Reform: Final Report and Recommendations

The Task Force believes that the following framework must be applied to all of its recommendations:

First, as a general matter, ethics rules must apply equally to all officials and employees no matter where in City government they work; they all are paid with the same public funds.
Second, when it comes to ethics, disclosure is a significant disinfectant. But disclosure only works when the information disclosed is easily available to the public in a searchable form.
Third, Philadelphia must have an independent Inspector General to investigate allegations of fraud, corruption, and misconduct in all branches of City government; not just an Inspector General who serves at the pleasure of the Mayor.
Finally, in our report, we suggest significant responsibilities be added to the City’s independent Board of Ethics, which enforces campaign finance and ethics laws. While mindful of the financial difficulties this City and all of us face, the Board of Ethics must have sufficient funding and support for the critical work that it does.

Recommendations

The Task Force report contains 36 separate recommendations in the areas of lobbying, campaign finance, ethics and conflicts of interest, and political activity restrictions.
With the 2011 municipal elections rapidly approaching, the City must improve its campaign finance statute by, among other things, clearly defining who is a candidate, improving the accessibility and searchability of campaign finance data, and clarifying the penalties to be imposed for violations of the campaign finance statute.
On the ethics side, Philadelphia must join virtually every other major City and adopt a lobbying registration and disclosure law.
We have witnessed the damage that could be done when a powerbroker, together with the City Treasurer, extorted campaign contributions and other payments from those seeking to do business with the City.
At no time did the public know that certain companies were paying this powerbroker to lobby officials for public contracts.
And, no one knew of the harm caused to the companies who refused to pay to play.
A lobbying registration and disclosure law will go a long way to shining light on this potential area for corruption.

Implementation

This report is just a first step. Now is the time for action. Mayor Nutter and City Council have demonstrated that they have the vision and resolve to make Philadelphia a model for ethics reform and foster confidence in those who live, work, and visit this great City.
The Task Force calls on Mayor Nutter and City Council to take the necessary steps to implement the recommendations contained in this Report.
On behalf of each of the nine members of this task force: thank you Mr. Mayor and Council President Verna for the opportunity to be of service to you and to the citizens of Philadelphia.