Maine has earned an “F” on an integrity index measuring the laws and systems in place to prevent corruption.
Today, a national nonprofit news organization released an investigation into each state’s level of transparency and accountability. The Center for Public Integrity didn’t examine incidents of corruption itself but the strengths and weaknesses of each state’s safeguards.
Based on 245 detailed indicators, Alaska earned the best grade in the nation — a C. Just two states earned better than a D+. Maine, which earned a numerical score of 59, was among 11 states receiving failing grades. You can see how Maine fared on all the indicators below.
The state also earned an F when the center published the results of its first inquiry in 2012. In response, a couple bills passed, including one proposed by Gov. Paul LePage, to increase transparency.
For example, lawmakers must now disclose when they hold more than 5-percent interest in a business. Previously, the law only required disclosure if they held a majority share.
In addition, there is now a one-year cooling off period before a legislator can become a lobbyist — a change that earned kudos on the integrity index. The agency also gave Maine a high score for several other indicators, such as its website that allows the public to track bills and testimony submitted to committees.
None of it, though, was enough to bump up Maine’s overall grade. Here are a few factors that earned the state an F again. Dave Sherwood, a writer at the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, contributed the Maine story.
— The governor and cabinet-level officials are not prohibited from using state resources for personal purposes. “[T]he governor is appropriated an ‘expense account’ by the Legislature to which he/she alone holds the purse strings,” the center wrote. “According to Maine’s Executive Law, these funds ‘shall be available for expenditure by the Governor at his discretion. This account shall not be subject to audit, except as to total amount to be paid.’” Legislators, meanwhile, are prohibited from using state resources for personal purposes.
— The governor and state-level cabinet officials are required to file an asset disclosure form, but the forms are not regularly audited. “Maine law does not explicitly require that executive branch financial disclosure forms be regularly, or randomly, audited by an impartial third party,” the agency wrote.
— Maine doesn’t require an independent body to monitor state elections, instead requiring the Maine Legislature to appoint the secretary of state to do so.
— The public does not have an easy way to access court decisions. While the decisions of the Supreme Court are available online, the Superior Court decisions are generally not.
— There is no law requiring a formal process to evaluate the performance of judges who are up for retention or reelection.
— The executive branch is slow to act on many findings of the state auditor. “The problem has become so acute that in 2013, the Office of the Auditor instituted a new policy, mandating that each audit ‘finding’ in its annual report be accompanied by the number of prior years the same finding had been observed. This policy had the intended effect, highlighting government inaction on the findings of the State Auditor — and often, subsequent government waste and lost funds. In 2013, for example, fully half (9 of 18) of all audit findings recorded in the Auditor’s annual Management Letter, which details areas that need improvement, had been uncovered in a previous year,” the center wrote.
— The state budget is not always debated in an open manner. While there are public hearings and records available, many decisions end up being made in party caucuses, in meetings between committee members, at late hours or behind closed doors. “Committee members state that they do not turn away media who want to participate in such meetings, but the reality is that it becomes difficult to track all of the committees’ actions in the late stages of the process. Some observers and participants complain that the most important decisions are often left to these final, and least accountable, moments in the process,” wrote the agency.
— While the Office of Fiscal and Program Review publishes general summary information of the budget, no state entity publishes a unified budget containing non-technical budget information accessible to a broad audience.
— The state gets kudos for providing a fiscal note and nonpartisan analysis on the costs and benefits of all bills. However, the Bureau of the Budget declined to answer questions, making it impossible for the Center for Public Integrity to judge whether it had sufficient capacity to do its work. The center said it tried for three months to no avail to talk with someone at the office regarding the budget process, but “a press officer said agency directors were too busy.”
— Former executive employees have to wait 12 months following their departure before they can become lobbyists. But Maine law does not restrict state-level judges from entering the private sector after leaving government.