Ethics and transparency were topics of discussion at the Union Commission meeting Monday evening.
Commissioner Brian Garner brought up his concerns about Union’s current policies on ethics and the need for more transparency. He specifically focused on electoral candidates not having to disclose contributions and donations they receive towards their campaigns.
Garner asked the commission to consider implementing a policy under their ethics guidelines that would require commission members and candidates to disclose any contributions they received during their election campaign.
He also added that he believes commission members who received contributions from donors should not be able to make decisions regarding those donors in some instances, as this could be a conflict of interest.
“Let’s say McDonald’s gives somebody $1,000, and they’re just a candidate,” Garner said. “Then they get elected, and then next year McDonald’s comes and says, ‘hey, we want a zoning approval for this drive thru.’ Right now, the way it sits, the person wouldn’t have to say a peep. And they could still vote on it, and they would be compliant with our ethics.”
Garner brought up the recent investigation into former Walton mayor, Gabe Brown, to argue his point. The investigation, which started in May along with Brown’s resignation, included several charges against the former mayor, including misuse of city property and hundreds of thousands of dollars of city money.
“I believe the ethics authority had nothing to say on Walton’s current mayor situation,” he said, referencing the Kentucky’s Legislative Ethics Commission’s current policies. “That just shows how stellar the ethics authority is.”
Garner’s fellow commissioners argued against implementing a new policy, as they felt the current regulations were sufficient.
Commissioner John Mefford said there are already regulations to promote transparency, including a Kentucky statute that requires candidates to report all of their election expenditures over $5000, with some exemptions if they are under that amount.
Mefford also pointed out that all election expense reports can be obtained via a public records request.
Garner disagreed with Mefford. “I think as a citizen, I would want to know. I don’t think it should be my duty to go and say, well, let me look this up,” he said.
Commissioner Doug Bine told Garner that the issue shouldn’t be decided on in just one meeting and suggested a more thorough discussion among the commission members.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t be transparent, but I think that if we start getting into all of this minute kind of stuff, we make a bigger problem for ourselves,” Bine said. “I think the system is working fine.”
Mefford said he could see Garner’s point of view but understood the counterarguments as well.
“I think Brian brings up a good point in that we always need to try to be as transparent as possible,” Mefford said. “But I also agree with commissioner Bine in that it’s hazardous for us as a commission to reach a snap judgment based on a discussion, especially when we’re talking about the legal side and the ethical side.”
The commission decided to have the city’s attorney, Greg Voss, go over the current policies on the topic and continue the conversation at a later date.