AUGUSTA, Maine — Two of the state’s top political leaders say they will lead a bipartisan effort to make government ethics, accountability and transparency key issues in the upcoming legislative session.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage and House Democratic leader Emily Cain are responding to a national report that gave Maine government an “F” for its potential for corruption.
Maine ranked 46th in the “State Integrity Investigation” by three nonpartisan good government groups that was released in mid-March.
Cain, the Democratic House leader who is running for a Senate seat from Orono, has proposed two linked initiatives that she hopes will lead to government ethics reform.
Cain said Tuesday she will ask her fellow lawmakers to form a bipartisan, joint select committee to consider ethics reform and report out a bill in the legislative session that begins in January.
“While the report didn’t reveal that Maine is corrupt, we have a lot of things to look at to do better,” Cain said, adding that she believes key areas of concern include nepotism, cronyism, legislative financial disclosure, government transparency and citizen access to information.
Cain on Tuesday submitted a “concept draft” bill, “An Act to Strengthen Maine’s Ethics Laws and Improve Public Access to Information,” that she hopes will provide a vehicle for bipartisan reform proposals.
Cain said her reform effort could succeed where others have failed in the past in part because the public is more aware now of the potential for corruption.
“I think the fact that Maine had a public blemish in that report changes a mindset for the public and for legislators,” Cain said.
“And we can say to ourselves: why did we get scored that way and can we take a look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘What do we want to be known for?’”
Both Cain and Gov. Paul LePage vowed after the integrity report’s release last spring to spearhead comprehensive government ethics reform proposals.
The report was based on research into 330 indicators in 14 categories, from procurement to campaign disclosure to lobbying. No state got an A, leading the report’s sponsors to conclude, “statehouses remain ripe for self dealing and corruption.”
Global Integrity collaborated with the Center for Public Integrity and Public Radio International on the investigation. In Maine, the research was done by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, based in Augusta. The center’s research was then analyzed by the three sponsoring groups, which came up with the scores.
Maine got an F in nine of the 14 categories, including executive accountability, public access to information, civil service management, pension fund management, the insurance commission, legislative accountability, lobbying disclosure, ethics enforcement and redistricting.
The state got a D+ in judicial accountability and political financing and a C- in the budget process and procurement. It got one A: in internal auditing.
This week, LePage’s acting chief legal counsel, Michael Cianchette, said that the governor’s office is working with a University of Maine student to research and write omnibus ethics reform legislation.
That student, Shelbe Lane of Patten, will make the legislation the subject of her Honors College thesis. That, in turn, said Cianchette, will be turned into a bill from the governor’s office.
“Rewriting ethics laws and finding best practices is a big objective,” Cianchette said. And he said that while it may be unusual to hand the job over to a college student, Lane is up to the challenge.
“She’s an intelligent young Mainer who wants to undertake this public service and it will of course go through process in the governor’s office and the legislature to find the best way forward,” Cianchette said.
While the goal is to address a range of problems identified in the report, Cianchette said he believes the legislation will ultimately “focus in on a few red flag areas.”
Lane, 20, worked as an intern in LePage’s office in the fall of 2011. She said the work she’s undertaking now is daunting.
“I would say that at times, yes, it makes me a little nervous to think about what I will be doing,” Lane said. “But I am getting ready to go to law school next year, so I’m also looking at it as a good step to working on my skills to help me through my career.”
And Lane said her interest in ethics reform went beyond the personal. Pride in her state motivates her.
“I am a student and I am always going after straight A’s,” she said. “This report card is not my own, but what I hope to accomplish is a better report card and ranking for the State of Maine in the form of straight A’s.”
Both Cain and Cianchette said the reform efforts will not be politicized.
“Anything I’m doing I want to do in collaboration with the governor’s office, Republicans in the legislature, everyone,” Cain said.
“What I’d like to see happen is not only an end result that increases trust in state government, but a process that reflects and leads to an increased trust as well.”
“It’s not a Republican or Democrat issue,” said Cianchette. “It’s a transparency issue.”
The bipartisan theme extends to Lane: Her thesis advisor is Cianchette, a Republican, while Democrat Cain sits on her thesis review committee.
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service based in Hallowell. Email: mainecenter@gmail.com. Web: pinetreewatchdog.org.
I am getting the popcorn.
Emily has done what Lepage’s mom couldn’t.
This F for potential corruption coincides with one of the most sad, lurid and inept gubernatorial tenures I have ever seen in the State of Maine.
Given LePage’s bootlick treatment toward Big Health Insurance, his prostration before Big Chemical Corps to protect BPA, and his other pathetic shenanigans–like protecting businesses that want to use Canadian labor instead of Mainers, because Canadians already have health insurance–I’d say the “potential” corruption is already well on its way toward actual sleaze, if not deeply wallowing and embedded.
Do not fearMr lepage replaced them.
What’s in the pipe tonight Spruce?
Improve the ethics of politicians? Forget it, a fools errand.
Sure would like to see the date they did this study.Also who did the study sounds like another lefty rag report so far.
Improve ethics vote republican.
It doesn’t matter who you vote for when Charlie Webster’s in charge.
I recommend the opposite.
Oxymoron-LePage and ethics
I’m just hoping that whatever they come up with applies to the govenor’s office as well.
Cain should win an award from trying to bring some integrity and adult supervision to the Statehouse and, most notably, to the Penguin administration.
Thankfully it’s not you because being adult seems to be a challenge for you. You could show your disdain for LePage without calling him Penguin which is childish and immature. Think about it,
If bangorian had half the integrity of LePage he wouldn’t post such immature and childish remarks.
Integrity?
Childish Remarks?
Kiss My Buhttt!
LOL
Penquin!!!!!
I like it!
This has been going on long before LePage ever took office. But I forget about all the hate on the left.
Oxymoron-democrats and ethics.
See, we can both be idiots or we could say what a great idea, lets get together and do this. What camp are you in?
QUICK !!! Get Paulie a mirror !
Ethics and Emily, water and oil
Sure you aren’t talking about Gov. LePage? That said, I hope they can work together.
Is Emily going to open up a classroom to give Paulie some badly needed lessons?
This article is making it sound like LePage and Cain had a cup of Coffee together and all the sudden they got along and come up with a solution by the time the donuts were ready. LePage has failed at transparency already, this man didn’t wake up one morning and change his mind. He is just nodding head at Cain and giving a “yup” every 3 minutes. We will resume normal bickering, bullying and whining from the LePage end shortly.
no MaineKat…Its Ethics /Dems=Oxymoron
Nope. As before, the opposite.
Won’t be many democrats left in Augusta if this ethics thingy takes ahold.
Poor Lauren LePage will be out of a job.
Even more Rs will be long gone.
As much as I would like to believe that this project has a future it’s basically meaningless unless, and until, there’s a way to remove State Official’s, who are now elected thru the State Senate, by impeaching them thru the State Constitution which has no Impeachment Cause for Action or Process. The current massive embarassment that the AG has subjected Maine to, in both the Penguin’s ‘Tree Tax’ mess and his now infamous ACA lawsuit are both more than cause for removal since all he did was waste Maine resources and subject Maine to an almost unimaginable hurdle for Maine to overcome whenever it has to file any legal action’s in the Federal court’s, which are very likely in the Penobscot River jurisdiction action’s that are in process.
To add to this, as if Maine really needed another ‘hole in the head’, his recent ‘smacking down’ by the Federal Court’s over the Medicare/Medicaid criteria case in Boston is going to put Maine in such a huge legal ‘hole’ that for us to come out of it is going to require Maine to demonstrate, and it’s gonna’ have to be a VERY ugly demonstration, that it has, and is prepared to do A LOT more to keep, it’s own house in order. That the AG had the nerve to try and ‘bum rush’ the Federal Court’s, using political whining and crying as the basis for the action, as opposed to sound legal ground’s, just showed the Court’s that Maine has a real education problem that’s now making it’s presence known thru the apparent lack of comprehensive reading skills the AG showed when he filed a Suit in Federal Court that was clearly both a waste of Maine’s time and the Court’s. That the Federal Medicare / Medicaid law was on the book’s, and the timeline clearly public, just showed the Federal Court’s, and not just a few Maine Court’s, that there is serious need for the AG’s Office to be subject to election by vote by the public, not the Legislator’s in Augusta that have their own agenda’s to be sought for filling. Make it a ‘4 and out’ Consttutionally elected position subject to the same provisions of Impeachment as the Governor’s position should be and a lot of this current political pandering and ‘sofa bending’ is gonna come to a halt quick.
What’s clearly needed is not so much reform as a State Constitutional Convention that provides for the means to update our State Consttution to stay current, legal and practical as the State moves forward. As has been pointed out “The law should be stable but never stand still”. Maine’s Constitution has been sitting in low gear far too long. It’s time to raise the level and standard’s of State Government, not try to rationalize or justify the current ‘cluster’ that’s been going on. The Washington County Caucus’s shows that clearly. The question is who, or which Parties, are gonna be the one’s to call for it ? November is getting closer folk’s and the voter’s do remember…………
Yes we do remember 30 years of corruption and unfunded entitlements.The Dems and unions have pilfered and regulated big employers almost out of existence in Maine.Mr lepage is working to change that.Just drive through any town that had a mill or manufacturing most are closed.
Did the report mention nepotism?
I think it is progress that the two sides are willing to sit down together to discuss improving ethics in the state. It is as bipartisan an issue as I can think of. I wish them well and hope their discussions are productive.