American Papers Publish Bribery Records of Government Officials

According to the California Public Records Act, the media has the right to obtain detailed information about the salaries and additional incomes of officials. Recently, an Associated Press reporter investigated these materials and discovered that many California officials receive perks and freebies.

The reporter brought this information into the open. The investigation revealed that 24 of the 80 California House of Representatives members and 14 of 40 senators — 38 officials in total — received gifts from lobbyists outside of the government and failed to report them. These gifts included meals, concert tickets, sporting event tickets and other gifts. For example, House of Representatives member Tom Torlakson received basketball tickets and refreshments from the AT&T telephone company totaling to $120.99. Sen. Dave Cox received game tickets for college league matches from a life insurance company valued at $390. Sen. George Runner accepted hotel services costing $151.51. Sen. Patricia Wiggins enjoyed a meal paid for by Bank of America, with expenses of $110.95. Sen. Fiona Ma was invited to dinner three times, with expenses of $94.96, $110.95 and $52.60, respectively.

Even though these perks are small, it is still important to report them; even small perks are against the law. According to California law, when government officials accept gifts from lobbyists, both the receiver and the giver have to report the expenses and the two reports have to match. Gifts are within the law, but not reporting gifts is against the law. Most California representatives and senators have a salary of $95,143. Besides this salary, officials are allowed to have an additional income of up to $30,000, which can include any kind of entertainment or gift.

In America, both officials and workers in other occupations have to abide by business ethics. Furthermore, the most basic ethical point is to be honest about money obtained and material benefits. Not reporting gifts is not honest. The law states that not reporting gifts incurs a fine of $5,000 for every violation.

In December 2009, California inspectors of the Fair Political Practice Commission, whose job it is to monitor the behavior of officials, did an inspection of gifts and sent notification letters to officials suspected of violating the law. About one-third of the representatives and senators received notification letters, as well as 15 legislative staff members. The Fair Political Practice Commission is responsible for making effective and feasible inspections of the personal integrity of officials so that the law does not become meaningless. Roman Porter, executive director of the commission, has already announced to the media, “I can confirm that we have opened investigations into possible failure to report gifts.”

The current investigation will focus on two types of people: influential committee leaders and representatives who will run for a second term in 2010. These two types of people control the workings of Congress and they have the ability to affect the honesty, equity and decisiveness of Congress. Because of this, their behavior should receive special oversight from the public. The more powerful an official is, the more the official needs to be strictly supervised. This is a principle of American democracy.

Some representatives have already admitted to their mistakes and have told the Fair Political Practice Committee that they want to submit revised reports. Their attitude seems sincere. For example, House of Representatives member Mike Villines said, “We didn’t file it. It was our mistake … There’s no excuse for not doing the paperwork.” He admitted to receiving sports tickets, a parking pass and refreshments totaling $250 from a telephone company, as well as a $124 dinner. But some members have different opinions of the investigation. Currently, the investigation is still in the process of auditing. It will finish after the reliability of all the materials are checked and then the results will be announced to the public.

In America, there are many people who are engaged in lobbying. Lobbying is the way interest groups promote their interests. It is a legal activity where public relations groups can influence government policy decisions. The interest groups target the members in Congress that can develop legislation and determine policy. Even though lobbying is a legal activity, it has a bad reputation. At one time in history, the entire legislative structure of a state was run by bribery.

Today, America has legislation concerning lobbying, including controls, supervision and corruption avoidance policies that can cover every case of an official being bribed. But as long as there are places affected by monetary benefits, there will certainly be a gray area. There will certainly be a loophole, of which one could take advantage. In America, very few officials will frankly accept bribes, but perks and freebies are quite common. Everyone knows that perks and freebies are not totally unrelated to special benefits; it’s just that it is often hard to obtain evidence. For example, Chairman of the House of Representatives Karen Bass received gifts from the Pechanga Indian tribe but did not report them. In 2008, the Pechanga tribe, along with three other tribes, received permission to expand their casinos by adding 17,000 slot machines. In this current report of officials accepting bribery, Bass has been highlighted in particular. When officials get benefits, they are “legal bribery,” but if they truly become special benefits, then they become punishable “illegal bribery.”