Transparency – Steve Barratt

Government Ethics and Transparency

Conflicts of Interest

There are several party leaders in our state that are also paid lobbyists representing special interests in the legislature. There are also some legislators who are lawyers representing special interests affected by issues, for example warehouse development, that may be under consideration by the legislature. These are conflicts of interest.

Officials at all levels of Government and party officials must never be in a position to profit personally from their positions of public trust.

County party leaders and officials must be subject to mandatory ethics training.
Where officials are in a position to have influence over government processes or other officials, such officials must recuse themselves from participating in any decisions where the public interest may conflict with the personal interest of those officials or the entities they represent.
This reform will apply to party officials, elected officials, appointed officials and judicial appointments at all levels of government. The people MUST have confidence that their interests are the ONLY interests represented in the conduct of their government

Transparency in Government

Voters must be certain that their governments are operating legally and solely in the public interest.

Electoral law violations are subject to a two year statute of limitations. It used to be ten years. This change was part of the Elections Transparency Act, passed in April of 2023. This is too short to permit proper investigation of electoral law violations.

The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) law was modified to eliminate fee shifting. This raises the risk to a citizen in suing to get a government to fulfill an OPRA request.

The Elections Transparency Act gutted important ethical boundaries surrounding the amount of money government contractors could donate (pay to play laws.) It also permitted the funding of “phantom candidates” that are used to siphon off voters from legitimate candidates. This is a cynical play to take advantage of our plurality voting process. (It would be resolved under (Ranked-Choice voting!)

The Elections Transparency Act must be amended to restore the 10 year statute of limitations on electoral law violations. Further, limits on contributions from businesses having contracts with the governments in the state, “pay to play,” must be restored to foreclose this strong opportunity for a conflicts of interest.
The Elections Transparency Act must also be amended to remove the funding of phantom candidates although the electoral reform Ranked-Choice Voting would also address the issue of phantom candidates
The transparency enabled by the original OPRA Laws must be restored. In a democracy the people must be confident that their government is operating openly in the daylight.
State Legislators should be subject to OPRA in the same fashion that local elected officials are held to account.
Fund a statewide system for all commercial OPRA requests so that this information is automatically uploaded and searchable on demand. This will free up the clerks to deal with the many other requests they receive.
Implement a mediation requirement before a lawsuit can be filed against a municipality or county. This will allow simple miscommunications to be rectified.
Fee Shifting is a key part of accountability. When a refusal to respond to an OPRA request is adjudicated in favor of the citizen, the government entity refusing disclosure must pay the legal fees of the plaintiff. This is an incentive for municipalities to be responsive and open. To do otherwise poses a powerful disincentive for citizens to hold their government to account.

This position is intended to mirror the Government Reform platform outlined by candidate Steven Fulop. Where an element of that reform platform is not mentioned here, it is Mr. Barratt’s intent to adopt the position taken by Mr. Fulop.

Government Ethics and Transparency

Conflicts of Interest

Transparency in Government

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This site is paid for by Steve Barratt

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