Columbus Dispatch editorial on STRS: ethics rules need to be followed to the letter of the law

Raising ethical standards

Prosecution of all violations will help clean up Ohio’s reputation

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

In a state where a number of officials have been touched by scandal, any ethical violations, even small ones, need to be prosecuted.

Free tickets to the Broadway musical Hairspray in 2003 landed former members of the State Teachers Retirement Board in hot water.

The four, who were in New York City on board business, accepted tickets worth $275 from Frank Russell Corp., a real-estate investment company that was working with the board.

The four subsequently were charged with failing to report to the Ohio Ethics Commission gifts valued at $75 or more.

In plea agreements, the four ex-members pleaded no contest or guilty last week to one ethics violation each and were fined $250, given a year’s probation, assigned community service and ordered to make restitution. Their attorneys asserted that the defendants didn’t know what they were doing was wrong. One of the defense attorneys called the prosecution "overkill."

Not true. First, STRS members should know what’s acceptable and what’s not, according to Ohio’s ethics standards.

Second, the defendants should be upset with the former chief executive at STRS, not the Ohio Ethics Commission or city prosecutors, who were doing their jobs. Former Executive Director Herb Dyer set the wrong tone for STRS board members by accepting meals, golf outings, travel, Broadway tickets and other gifts.

Because Dyer accepted gifts from contractors, others might have concluded that was acceptable behavior. Dyer, who resigned under pressure as executive director in 2003, was found guilty last year of failing to report nearly $400 in gifts from a contractor. Earlier this year, two other pension board members were convicted of ethics violations.

One of the goals of Ohio’s ethics standards is to head off minor wrongdoing that could spiral into larger offenses. Any violations, large or small, should be investigated and prosecuted.

The investment scandal at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is the most widely reported Ohio corruption in recent years, but far from the only one.

Gov. Bob Taft pleaded guilty in 2005 to four misdemeanor counts for failing to report golf outings, meals and other gifts.

Several other public officials, including Randall A. Fischer, director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Robert S. Tongren, resigned over allegations that they accepted gifts from contractors or lobbyists.

If Ohio is to shake free of its reputation as a place where state business can be bought with gifts and other favors, ethics rules need to be followed to the letter of the law.