Disclosure problem number 835,428
Yeah, I made up the number, but after reporting on State Senator Ulysses Currie’s issues the other day it seems like one could do a national blog solely on all the violations of ethics issues and failures to fill out disclosure forms properly. Another longtime Maryland politician was snared by the disclosure trap last week, according to this AP story recounted in the Hagerstown Herald-Mail newspaper (h/t: PolitickerMD).
At issue is Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6) and his failing to report over $1 million in property sales since 2004. Of course Bartlett, a Republican in the process for running for his ninth term, blamed the discrepencies on a combination of reasons, including his own inattentiveness. However, there is no indication that Bartlett failed to pay any taxes due on the capital gains, which would be a more serious no-no than the possible fine and five years’ imprisonment that falsifying a disclosure report could carry. Bartlett promised to amend the disclosure reports to reflect the correct information, a typical response when caught by the press.
While I’m not excusing the Bartlett omissions, the biggest difference between this failure to accurately report home sales and State Senator Currie’s allegedly not reporting his Shoppers Food Warehouse income is that Currie was in a position to do favors for the company he worked for, whereas Bartlett was nailed on issues derived from the acquisition and sale of his own private property. (And the fact that the “drive-by” media is digging up this issue, which dates all the way back to 2004, close to election time makes me wonder if someone in that newsroom isn’t a Jennifer Dougherty supporter.) Insofar as I know, Bartlett didn’t use his position to catch a discount on the purchase or enhance the sale price on these properties – as opposed to Barack Obama cutting a bargain with the help of convicted criminal Tony Rezko or the two Senators, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who had a sweetheart deal with Countrywide Mortgage to finance their home purchases. (Conrad’s property in question is not far from here, over in Bethany Beach, DE.)
While there’s now an effort to add mortgages to the myriad of items required on these ethics reports, again I have to question the purpose behind portions of the reports in the first place. After all, most of those in Congress had already made their fortune prior to getting into office so it’s not necessarily enriching them improperly if they have a home or investment suddenly increase in value. While it’s good to know about some items that are owned by public officials, such as stock in a company who could benefit from legislation before Congress (or the General Assembly), I’m not that fond of other ethics laws on the books, like restrictions on gifts that can be accepted, as long as the gift-giver is disclosed.
I’m brought back to the overarching argument I began in the Currie piece, the contention that these issues would abate if there were less in the governmental pot to distribute to certain friends, enriching all of them from the public trough. Bartlett’s case doesn’t enhance the argument as much as Currie’s, but the fact that these sorts of things make headlines continually add to the perception that those in public office are someplace south of honest in their dealings.
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