ICYMI: A group of 23 Democratic state House members have pledged to disclose their personal finances as they push for full transparency among all elected state officials to prevent corruptive conflicts of interest.

Michigan is the only state with a full-time legislature that does not require lawmakers to fill out annual disclosure forms, according to the New York-based Center for Public Integrity (CPI).

Bridge Magazine, in a piece of investigative journalism published online last year, identified more than a dozen fairly blatant examples of Michigan legislators engaging in conflicts of interest and taking advantage of Michigan’s lack of transparency regarding lawmakers’ personal finances.

In Michigan, CPI reports that it is up to legislators to police themselves and abstain from voting if there is a potential conflict of interest. But they rarely do so.

Lack of disclosure was among the reasons that Michigan scored a grade of F in the Center for Public Integrity’s 2015 State Integrity Investigation. The state was awarded a ranking worst in the country in the comprehensive assessment of state government accountability and transparency.

Financial disclosures are commonly required for elected officials from Congress down to local offices. They represent the only clear-cut way for the public to determine if lawmakers are voting on bills for self-enrichment and not in the public interest.

State Sen. Steve Bieda, a Warren Democrat, has introduced a package of bills mandating financial disclosure for several years but he has gained no traction in the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature. Bieda’s legislation, and similar measures introduced last year in the House, have gone nowhere.

The House bills’ transparency mandate would apply to candidates and officials related to statewide judicial, legislative, executive or education offices.

Lonnie Scott, director of the liberal advocacy group Progress Michigan, said Michigan term limits contribute to abuses of power among state officials.  Michigan has one of the strictest term limit laws in the nation, allowing lawmakers to serve no more than three two-year terms in the House and two four-year terms in the Senate.

“We see a lot of rotation of state lawmakers, and they don’t always stop doing what they were doing before they became a state lawmaker,” Scott said. “We also have very weak lobbying laws, very weak financial disclosure laws, and really all of that put together is a recipe for corruption.”

 

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