Tag: Watchdog journalism

Boris Johnson has been accused of “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house” after a Commons standards watchdog found he had failed to declare his share of a property in Somerset on time. The Commons standards committee said the former foreign secretary had breached rules by failing to declare a financial interest within the required time limit. The committee dismissed Johnson’s claim that he had not fully understood the rules. The committee said this offence followed a previous failure to register a financial interest. “The committee noted with concern that two investigations by the commissioner in rapid succession demonstrate a pattern of behaviour by Mr Johnson which reinforces their previous view that he had displayed an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house,” the ruling found. “Although Mr Johnson argued that the house’s rules were confusing, the committee concluded that the problem lay not with the relevant rules, which they consider to be clear, but with Mr Johnson’s failure to consult the guide to the rules. He has apologised for the breach. The ruling follows an earlier warning from the watchdog after Johnson was found to have failed to declare almost £53,000 of earnings before the 28-day deadline. Johnson apologised in the House of Commons for the breach. Last year, Johnson was also found to have broken rules that prevent former cabinet ministers taking up new jobs for three months after leaving office, by signing up for his £275,000-a-year Daily Telegraph column.

Cities and counties across California are reaching out to the state’s political watchdog about possibly enforcing their campaign finance and ethics ordinances under a new law that took effect on Jan. 1. The law, modeled after an arrangement San Bernardino County has had with the California Fair Political Practices Commission since 2013, essentially allows local agencies to draw on the state’s experience and expertise in dealing with such issues — for a price. “In the last two months, staff have received multiple inquiries and interests from local government agencies on contracting with the Commission for the administration, implementation and enforcement of local campaign finance or government ethics laws,” FPPC Executive Director Loressa Hon wrote in a report that will be presented to the commission on Thursday, Feb. 21. San Jose reached out to the FPPC in January about possibly contracting with the commission to enforce its longstanding campaign finance and ethics ordinance after its seven-member ethics committee dwindled to three members and lacked a quorum to vote on enforcement matters, San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said Wednesday. Therefore, the city is no longer considering a contract with the FPPC to enforce its ordinance, Doyle said. San Bernardino County first in state San Bernardino County became the first in the state to enter into such an agreement with the FPPC after it adopted an ordinance in August 2012. I think the FPPC has had a positive experience with it as well, and the opportunity to take their highly professional and politically neutral oversight abilities anywhere in the state is going to be a great benefit.” Under its contract with the FPPC, San Bernardino County pays the agency a flat fee of $55,000 annually, and is billed at preapproved hourly rates, for any work exceeding the flat amount. A commission staff report noted that, since 2015, the FPPC’s Enforcement Division investigated 34 cases involving allegations of a public agency spending public funds for campaign purposes. Of the closed cases, three resulted in stipulated settlements, two cases were closed and six remain open, according to the report. If their goal is to ensure that there’s compliance and there’s transparency, then obviously I would support that.” FPPC spokesman Jay Wierenga the proposed legislation seeks only to bring current law on the misuse of public funds into the realm of the Political Reform Act so that the FPPC can take administrative or civil action against violators.

As the governor’s pick to lead the state’s political watchdog panel, veteran Democratic activist Alice Germond takes over an agency that has been mired in turmoil for months following a dispute between commissioners over the sharing of power. “We’re not going to spend a lot of time pointing fingers at what may or may not have happened in the past, because that is all history and it appears that all of that has not changed the good work that the FPPC does.” The commission was created by voters to include four part-time commissioners and one full-time chairperson who acts as an executive for the agency. Over Remke’s objection, the other four commissioners approved a new structure, creating committees that exclude the chairperson to make recommendations on important issues. At the same time, the agency has been considering a proposal to make the chairperson a part-time commissioner without the executive powers provided when the FPPC was set up. “Let’s see how this works before we make any more changes,” Germond said. My gut says there is an awful lot of work to do, and the more people doing as much as they can, including a full-time chair, may be a good thing.” Germond, whose annual salary as chairwoman is $152,473, noted that any change probably would not affect her, because whoever is elected governor in the November election will have the option of choosing a new chairperson for the panel. “I think that distrust has grown over the last number of years perhaps because of the lack of civil discourse, perhaps because of the 24-hour news cycle, where it seems to be endemic to fill the air,” she said. She plans to hold some FPPC meetings outside of Sacramento to help voters understand what the agency does “so that they have faith when they go to the election booth that their vote is not bought and that the playing field is level and that the basic part of democracy is working for them,” she said. I would like to see people involved,” Germond said. She was deputy campaign manager for Brown’s gubernatorial campaign in 1978.