Tuesday, February 9, 2010

HB266 would lock up salary information

Untold stories
By Joel Campbell
Utah Press Association

If HB266 passes in the Utah Legislature, only titles and salaries of public officials would be released, while some elected appointed officials names and salaries would be released. The bill does not say who gets to decide which salaries and names should be public and which should not. Furthermore, the bill would severely the ability of the public to watchdog the government and its expenditures. The reasons for the bill are short-sighted. If names of Utah public employees were protected under GRAMA, the following kinds of abuse and corruption would never come to light to the public.

In 2008, The Salt Lake Tribune analysis of Sandy's pay records - finally made public under court order - revealed a decades-old system that disproportionately benefited the city's highest-paid employees, including the mayor, administrators, department heads and their top aides. Dolan and his administrators fought to keep city pay records secret, beginning with their 2004 denial of a Salt Lake Tribune request for the names and salaries of police officers and firefighters. It resulted in a change in Sandy's bonus program and earned the Society of Professional Journalist's Freedom of Information Award last year.

A 2008 KSL investigation found that Herriman City Hall was filled with relatives. From department heads to the crossing guards, the investigation revealed that Herriman City Hall is a family affair. The planning director's niece was on the planning staff, and his nephew was an intern. A planning commissioner's daughter was a city planner. A nephew got a job too. The water manager's brother works in another department. The department's director has two brothers-in-law who work in other divisions. The assistant city manager's sister-in-law was hired in finance. His own son got a job on the street crew. An employee in the mayor's office has a sister who got hired in another department. In all, KSL found that 30 percent of Herriman's total city workforce -- one out of every three city employees -- is related to someone else who works for the city. If SB266 becomes law, the problems of nepotism would be far more unlikely to come to light. Names are needed to show family ties.

The Herriman city manager also served as the city’s mayor, considered a conflict for many cities. Under the SB266 plan, there would be no way to find out if a government employee held two city positions at once or was receiving a pension while employed by government. The problem under SB266, salaries and associated names would not be public information. A single person could hold two titles but the connection will remain a secret.

A Deseret News article examined how women do not advance as quickly -- or as often -- as men in local government in Utah. This report analyzes and compares the salaries of the top earners of Provo City employees, both men and women, Under the SB166, names of employees could not be released as part of an investigation of gender equity. Such names and gender would be critical to such an investigation.

This is how laws help protect the public interest in other states. An investigation found that some of the most powerful Indiana state legislators are also administrators of a state-funded community college. Three of the four legislators have six figure salaries but do little work, and the fourth earned closer to $65,000 per year. The lawmakers sometimes vote on major college issues despite their conflict of interest. Under the SB266 scheme, legislator’s salaries and names might show up with their legislative work, but may not be reported by other agencies where they are employed.

The Texas Associated Press gathered salary information to compare high school football coaches' salaries with the average pay of teachers and the best-paid educators in their districts. The AP determined that high school football coaches in Texas earn 75 percent more than the average teacher. Nearly 80 percent of the coaches make more than the best-paid teacher in their districts. The proposed Utah bill would make nearly impossible to do such a comparison.

Middlesex News (Framingham, Mass.) investigated the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, uncovering patronage, nepotism, exorbitant salaries, no-bid contracts, and plans to keep charging tolls although the road has already paid for itself.

The Oakland (Calif.) Tribune reported on a hidden layer of government that had developed in the state of California; obscure agencies were still operating long after their roles became obsolete, with officials receiving salaries for serving on the agencies' boards. Such corruption would be difficult to track without names of staff and officials.

Universities pay lavish salaries to land "superstar" professors, mostly in the fields of medicine and economics. The Columbus Dispatch analyzed salary databases for Ohio's 13 public universities to find the highest-paid professors in the state. The series focuses on Ohio State University, the school with the most professors among the highest-paid. Such super-stars, only identifiable through names, would be able to be checked out.

The San Francisco Examiner investigation explored a practice of questionable expenditures at the San Francisco Unified School District. The series focused on the finding that "some San Francisco school custodians have doubled their salaries through overtime pay," charging the district for "answering" alarms that apparently never went off..." The investigation revealed that "the oversight may have cost millions over a number of years," as "the district failed to conduct the most basic oversight. How can such a check on the public purse be pursued unless investigators were able to use names of the custodians.

The Denver Post analysis of pension records revealed an outdated pension system that "funnels millions of tax dollars to retired city police officers and firefighters by linking their pensions to the salaries of current department employees, even decades after they've retired. Names are the only way to accurately connect the dots on such an investigation.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

HB266 would hurt public's right to know

Wasatch Wave’s (Heber City, Utah) editorial position:
Government behind closed doors

The Issue:
Proposed legislation will limit public’s right to know
We Suggest:
Kill the Bill Rep. Powell

A bill (HB 266) has been drafted and sponsored by our own State Representative Kraig Powell that would eliminate the public's right to know what public employees are paid. This bill was drafted at the request of Wasatch County Payroll Manager Dell Barney.
We are appalled that Rep. Powell would even consider sponsoring a bill that would hide from the public the expenditures of public monies from the electorate. The passage of this bill could open the floodgates of corruption in the determination of salaries for public employees. Without public scrutiny some employees could receive monumental salaries and others could be penalized with substandard wages all under the cover of no public knowledge of government’s activities and expenditures.
Barney’s request for the submission of this bill is nothing more than an attempt of government to conduct its affairs away from public oversight.
We must remember that this is public money being spent for public employees, and as the public employees’ bosses, the taxpayer has a right to know how every dime is being spent. Aren’t bosses entitled to know how salaries of their employees are being allocated?
This legislation would open the door for exorbitant salaries for a few and poverty wages for those not in favor with the administration. This observation is supported by the obscene salaries paid to industry and banking management away from the scrutiny of their stockholders. This action was fostered behind closed doors without the oversight of the public.
When Rep. Powell was asked about why he would sponsor such a poor piece of legislation he responded by stating that he had a responsibility to carry any legislation from his constituents. If this is the case then we suggest that anyone who would like to be named king request Rep. Powell to sponsor the appropriate bill for such action.
We must keep in mind that government that is conducted behind closed doors away from the scrutiny of the electorate is not a democracy. Democracy’s basic premise is based on the public’s right to know the actions and activities of its elected officials.
We would suggest that Mr. Barney enroll in a course in basic American government and pay particular attention to First Amendment rights. That’s the part that guarantees the public’s right to know.
We request that Rep. Powell withdraw his sponsorship of this misguided legislation. To be a party to such a bad piece of legislation definitely reflects poorly on the people of Wasatch County. Remember, Rep. Powell, you were elected by the majority to represent the best interests of the community as a whole. Not just a select few.
Legislation that fosters ignorance of the activities of government is not in the best interest of a free, informed, democratic society.