Wolf Proposes Funding Increase For State Ethics Commission

By Andrew Staub | PA Independent

Gov. Tom Wolf has opened up his daily calendar, banned gifts for executive branch staff and ended no-bid contracts for private law firms in an attempt to improve ethics and transparency in state government.

Wolf is also proposing increased funding for the Ethics Commission, which investigates public officials who run afoul of the state law covering conflicts of interest, improper influence and the filing of statements of financial interest.

The governor’s budget proposal gives the agency a 3-percent bump that would bring its funding to more than $2.15 million, $63,000 above its current appropriation.

One good-government activist, though, doesn’t think that’s enough, considering Wolf wants to increase the budget for the General Assembly — already among the nation’s most expensive — by more than 22 percent, or roughly $51.5 million.

“When Mr. Wolf campaigned on ethical change, I didn’t think he meant throwing pennies at the State Ethics Commission while lavishing goodies on the Legislature,” said Eric Epstein, coordinator of Rock the Capital.

Rob Caruso, executive director of the commission, said his office would welcome a 3-percent bump. As his office deals with rising benefit costs that eat up funding increases, he said “any little bit helps.”

“It will enable us to carry forward with the staff that we have now, but not a whole lot more,” Caruso said.

Epstein called the governor’s proposal a “formula to preserve the status quo,” but Wolf spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan said the funding increase is just the start. The long-term plan, he said, is to “fully fund” the Ethics Commission.

“This is the first step. This is his first budget,” Sheridan said, while adding that Epstein was “not credible” and has “criticized everything that we’ve done so far in order to stay relevant.”

For now, the Ethics Commission might simply tread water. With 16 people on staff, it’s operating well below its full complement of 27 employees. Lawmakers gave it a $222,000 funding increase for this year, allowing the commission to hire a sixth investigator — but that’s still just two-thirds of its investigative team, Caruso said.

The practical effect of that is less compliance reviews and longer investigations, Caruso said.

“It it’s a case way up in Tioga County where travel is difficult, that case may sit three or four months before we can actually assign someone to it,” he said.

The workload isn’t getting any lighter. The commission had 375 complaints in 2013, 425 last year and is on pace for 400 to 450 this year, Caruso said.

“They have been undersourced for a long time considering the workload they have. They are certainly in need of additional funds,” said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a good-government organization. “If the people of Pennsylvania really expect high levels of integrity in government, they need to have a strong watchdog.”

That watchdog can’t starve, said Kauffman, who plans to meet with the commission and other agencies this spring to see how he might help in the budget process.

If enacted, Wolf’s funding levels would give the commission close to its highest budget, Caruso said. If it weren’t for the benefit costs, the agency could do much more, he added.

Sheridan described Wolf’s first budget proposal as a “blueprint” that could be built upon in the future, with a better funded Ethics Commission an eventual possibility.

And while Epstein believes Wolf might be more focused on deal-making with the Legislature than an ethical overhaul this year, Sheridan pointed to Wolf’s quick ban on gifts and other moves to increase accountability.

“The governor has taken serious actions on ethics,” Sheridan said. “His own actions speak for themselves.”