All bark

They call a recent bill designed to nip the temptation of nefarious activity among Arkansas legislators an ethics reform bill, which was, after reading the bill, a piece of literature intended to disparage the phrase, “ethics reform.”

The companion Arkansas House and Senate bills are supposed to create a standard reimbursement rate for out-of-state travel, to include requiring legislators to document the reimbursement rate they select.

Wow. Documentation. How novel.

Language in the bills also require legislators to suffer through what will likely be an interminable one-year “cooling off” period before they can return as a lobbyist.

If the ethics reform bills are signed into law, it would be nice if the Act would be titled, “The Cancer Cure Act,” because the law will come as close to curing cancer as it will reforming ethics.

We should note before moving further to cyncially swing at this softball which the Legislators have thrown our way, that a majority of those who serve in the Arkansas General Assembly are fine folks. They don’t need ethics reform. They are the type of folks who do the right thing when no one is looking.

Now, let’s swing.

Pretend that Arkansas divided into two states, with Lamar, Ark., named the capital of the new state of Ozarkansas. Please, just play along.

In this new 30-county state, we have the usual speeding and highway safety laws but provide a budget for only 5 state troopers and 3 cars. What’s more, the state troopers aren’t allowed to issue citations unless a citizen complains about the reckless driving behavior of another citizen. As a result, citizens of this new state don’t obey the basic speeding and other rules. (And, no, Bruce Holland is NOT the governor of this new state. Don’t be a smartass. I’m trying to make a point here.) The reasonable response to stem the increase in wrecks and other problems would be to pass new laws. Right? A few new laws and then folks will realize we are serious about responsible driving. Right?

If you believe enforcement is the problem in this new state of Ozarkansas, then you understand the problem with this new round of ethics reform. (Link here to the bill. If you find anything in it about providing enforcement resources, please let me know.)

Ethics reform in Arkansas should begin with legislators providing the resources to enforce rules already on the books. Instead, the good Senators and Representatives pat themselves on the back for their new magnanimous action in policing themselves. Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, called the ethics reform bill a “big stride.”

She was half right. It’s big, alright.

The thing is, the Arkansas Ethics Commission and the elections division of the Arkansas Secretary of State — to provide just two examples — have little to no resources or authority to ensure compliance on campaign finance reports, campaign practices, financial disclosures, lobbyist actions, the actions of all elected officials in Arkansas and other basic rules designed to promote “openness and accountability in government.”

I dare anyone to make mathematical sense of campaign reports filed prior to the Nov. 2 election. If you try, consider hiring an expert trained to read hieroglyphics. And if the campaign reports are filed late, well, no big deal. And if a legislator gets too much money from a person during a particular election cycle, well, no big deal as long as the “mistake” is not noticed. Sometimes legislators get a letter politely asking them to not do that no more.

We have mayors who use their taxpayer provided offices for campaign purposes. Term-limited Legislators who have just a few months to serve are allowed to be reimbursed for fancy out-of-town conferences at nice vacation-spot locations. I could go on and on about infractions — blatant and innocent, large and small — of ethics laws on the books.

Rep. Clemmer and her peers might consider a “big stride” in reverse to review rules already in place, and provide adequate resources for those rules to be enforced.

Anything other than that is so much hot air that no amount of “cooling off” time will dissipate.