On Friday, March
14, 2003, Susan Kniep, President of FCTO, offered the following testimony
to the Legislature on Bills intended to help curb municipal corruption. Within Item 1, Ms. Kniep
stressed the need to limit the time frame an auditor can be retained by a
Municipality. Conflict of interest or
ethic laws can curb corruption, but cannot stop it. There will always be some corrupt or
corruptible elected officials.
Taxpayers should therefore be given a guarantee that their books are
audited by those who have no unhealthy familiarity with the town officials they
are auditing.
Ms. Kniep’s Testimony Before the State
Legislature
TO IMPROVE STATE AND LOCAL ETHIC LAWS
Bill 6594: Act Concerning Municipal Ethics, Municipal Whistleblower
Protections, and the Investigation of Municipal Corruption; and
Bill 6593: An Act Extending Provisions of the State Code of Ethics for
Lobbyists to Municipal Lobbying; and
All Bills Affecting Municipal Ethics with the Intent of Prohibiting
Corruption
My
name is Susan Kniep and I am President of The
Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. I had
previously served as East Hartford's
Mayor for four years from 1989 to 1993 and a town council member for eight
years, four years as Minority Leader.
I applaud your efforts to stem the tide of corruption within the State and its
municipalities.
Corruption,
infused with public money, has mired the political landscape in Connecticut for far too
long. The surreptitious deal between Enron and CRRA would
probably not have become public knowledge if Enron did not collapse. This
has left many wondering what other clandestine deals bordering on corrupt
practices have not yet surfaced in our State or our towns.
By
imposing strong ethics and conflict of interest laws and providing a reliable
system of checks and balances, you can help to protect the interests of the
taxpayers you represent.
As such, I would suggest including the following in your legislation or
separate legislation:
1.
We must accept the fact that there will be some elected and appointed officials
and government employees who are corrupt or can be corrupted regardless of the
ethic laws imposed. As such, a program
of operational and procedural audits should be required of municipalities in
addition to the financial audit.
Further, auditors hired by a municipality should be limited to no more
than a three year contract. A subsequent
five year period should lapse prior to the auditor being allowed to return to
that municipality. This will help to
sour the stew of any municipality cooking its books.
2. Your proposal allowing for a recall of
any municipal elected official serving a four year term should instead be
reduced to a two-year term of office.
The term of two years is customary for the majority of elected municipal
officials.
3. Limited Liability Companies should be
required to disclose all officers and principals when (1) contracting with the
State or a municipality for any product or service or (2) receiving any
form of financial support to include tax incentives and/or economic development
funding.
4. Elected or appointed officials or
employees of a municipality should be restricted from (1) representing a client
before any municipal body or individual employed by the municipality and (2)
from representing a client in any law suit involving the municipality.
5. Ethic and conflict of interest
restrictions should be placed upon those "employed" by government
under professional service contracts such as architects, engineers, attorneys,
and others. Example: The Town of East Hartford has no architect on
staff. It has expended approximately $2.5 million in Architectural fees
under private contracts. This includes a
long-term on-call architectural professional service contract. The architect under this contract has the
ability to do what a town employee could not. The architect works
for the town and the town's Redevelopment Agency, which, in turn, contracted
with a developer who employed the architect through the architect’s private
business.
6.
Close the revolving door through which elected officials leave their municipal
office and immediately return as a member of the private sector, reaping
financial gains through the sale of products or services. In other words,
restrain influence peddling or door opening. Example: The ECS
Funding lawsuit originated with the former Mayor of East Hartford. Four months after
leaving office, he encouraged the town to initiate this lawsuit against the
State of Connecticut
through his law firm. As you may be aware, East Hartford and other towns which
joined this suit had to withdraw as the initial fee within the contract nearly
tripled, making it cost prohibitive.
7. Municipalities should be prohibited from
channeling money through a third party. Example: The Redevelopment
Agency of East Hartford,
when purchasing private property, does not pay the seller direct. The
funds are instead paid through an Attorney. The town possesses no record
indicating the numbers of checks cut by the Attorney, the amount paid, or to
whom.
8.
Restrict members of the State's Attorney General's office who concurrently
serve as elected officials of a municipality from promoting, initiating, or
becoming involved in lawsuits against the State by the municipality.
Example: The Chairman of East Hartford's
Town Council is also an assistant Attorney General. By his vote and
encouragement, the ECS Funding lawsuit was initiated against the State.
9.
Prohibit Board of Education employees who concurrently sit on local legislative
boards from promoting or voting on Board of Education budgets.
Thank you for your consideration.