It’s a start–Titus’ "12 Step" program to reform campaign finance in Nevada. I especially like the idea of a searchable database for Nevada campaign contributions. In fact, I’ve advocated it before. I’ve also supported the idea for quarterly reports because the current law allows campaigns to hide squirrelly tricks like "bundling" contributions–where individuals subvert limits by contributing through multiple corporations.
Here’s the program, from Titus’ site:
——-
Dina Titus,
a Democratic candidate for governor, proposed 12 steps to restore
public confidence in state and local government in Nevada. The first
step is to acknowledge the problem and resolve to fix it. The following
11 steps tighten Nevada’s ethics and disclosure laws to ensure open and
honest government. The Titus reform proposals would:
? Hold public officials to a higher standard by investigating and
prosecuting all violations of ethics and disclosure laws, not just
those that are considered “willful” violations under current state law.
? Create a Political Integrity Unit within the Office of the
Attorney General, Nevada Department of Justice to investigate and
prosecute violations of Nevada ethics and disclosure laws, with a staff
of investigators and attorneys to enforce compliance with campaign
finance, lobbying and conflict of interest laws.
? Prohibit contributions from individuals or corporate entities to
city council members or county commissioners while a land use,
licensing or permit application is pending and for one year after final
action is taken on that application.
? Prohibit elected officials or public employees from accepting any
gift from lobbyists or others with any business before state or local
governments. Current law allows officials to receive free meals and
entertainment, but under the Titus proposal public officials would be
banned from taking anything of value, including meals, concert tickets,
golf games or trips, with the exception of charitable dinners in Nevada
and ribbon-cutting events.
? Prohibit candidates from receiving campaign contributions in cash.
? Prohibit candidates from putting family members on campaign payrolls.
? Require campaign disclosure reports for city, county and state
candidates to be filed quarterly in an election year, starting with
January 1 covering the preceding year.
? Require candidates to detail in their campaign disclosure
statements the identities of corporate officers, directors, and
principals with an ownership interest of 10% or more in any
contributing corporate entity, including for-profit and non-profit
corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships.
These filings also would require that occupations and addresses of
individual donors be disclosed, similar to Federal Election Commission
requirements.
? Require officeholders to more fully disclose on their personal
financial disclosure statements their personal assets, including stock
and bond ownership; and require the Nevada Secretary of State’s website
to improve public access to campaign disclosure and personal financial
disclosure reports by installing a system capable of downloading
integrated, searchable data related to campaign contribution and
expenditure reporting forms.
? Prohibit former elected officials from lobbying their former colleagues for two years after leaving office.
? Require state legislators to take an unpaid leave of absence from
a job in a state or local government while serving in a regular or
special legislative session.
Recent Comments