Can MLAs Be Kept Honest?

British Columbia's departing conflict of interest commissioner left some recommendations behind as he tidied up his desk:

Extend the conflict rules to cover political staff.

Allow MLAs and their family members to accept more expensive gifts.

And whenever MLAs violate conflict rules, make them pay a whole lot more. Quadruple their maximum fines, in fact.

The suggested changes are among 10 recommendations Herbert Arnold Dimitri Oliver, who goes by H.A.D., made in his annual report for 2007. The report was Oliver's last as conflict commissioner. He completed his 10-year tenure in the position after submitting the report to the Speaker's office on Dec. 31, 2007. Paul Fraser has since replaced Oliver.

Speaker Bill Barisoff released the report publicly this week to a legislature preoccupied with news of an RCMP investigation into former solicitor general John Les's land deals in Chilliwack. It arrived in the wake of a scandal involving the failure of a top advisor to Premier Gordon Campbell, former deputy minister to the premier Ken Dobell, to follow the government's rules for lobbyists.

"Recent experience" shows political staff, such as Dobell, should be covered by the act, Oliver wrote. That would include ministerial assistants, the premier's chief of staff and deputy ministers.

At first he thought deputy ministers should not be included, he said. "They were part of the public service with the advantage of many years of training and experience under the same conflict of interest and ethics regime as other members of the public service.

"On further reflection, I have come to realize that at present time deputy ministers may not always have that background and may, in effect, be the most influential members of a Minister's staff and should properly be included in the political staff category."

No change planned

Oliver noted that John Horgan, the MLA for Malahat-Juan de Fuca and an NDP member of the legislature's finance committee, had raised the issue in a private member's bill that did not become law. "It may be thought preferable to have this matter dealt with as public business rather than by virtue of a private member's bill," Oliver advised.

Attorney General Wally Oppal said Wednesday he did not believe reviewing the act was his responsibility. Later in the day a ministerial assistant to Oppal told The Tyee the attorney general will review the report and act accordingly.

"I was pleased to see my persistence has had impact," said Horgan. "The government may well listen to [Oliver] if not to me." B.C. used to have one of the strongest conflict of interest acts in the country, he said. "We were leading the country in the early 1990s and we're now falling behind."

Extending the act to cover political staff would be a good step, he said. MLAs are barred for two years from taking jobs in the private sector where they have significant dealings with the government. Public servants should be too, said Horgan.

Horgan said he was inspired by the Dobell case to introduce his bill, but also cited the case of Tom Syer, a former ministerial assistant and deputy chief of staff to Premier Campbell, who left the government to join Plutonic Power Corporation Inc. "I think that's absolutely inappropriate and is an abuse of power," said Horgan. "That reeks of trying to buy influence. The public should be protected from that."

Horgan said he will likely reintroduce his bill, especially with the encouragement Oliver has given him in his report. "He offered on his way out the door something for people to chew on. I give him credit for that."

Raise gift threshold?

The act also sets rules around the fees, gifts or personal benefits an MLA may accept. Members have to publicly disclose any gift over $250. Oliver advocated raising the limit and extending it to family members. "I suggest that this prohibition be extended to include a member's spouse or minor child and that the $250 limit established 17 years ago be increased to $750."

Making the change would mean an MLA could accept a gift worth up to $749.99 -- a night at a luxury spa, a case of fine wine or expensive jewelery, for instance -- without having to say anything about it to the public.

Horgan said it would be a mistake to raise the threshold. "I think $250 is about right," he said. "You need to have some number and the $250 is a good place to start. Going up isn't the way to go."

He did, however, support raising the penalties. For those who break the rules, the act sets out a maximum fine of $5,000. That amount might have been appropriate in 1991, Oliver wrote, but has become "totally inadequate."

Oliver wrote, "I believe that a considerable increase in the maximum financial penalty (perhaps to $20,000) would provide a significant deterrent and form an acceptable alternative penalty to a period of suspension." Fines are better than suspensions, he said, since barring an MLA from the legislature could be seen as penalizing the member's constituents.

No fines levied

Not that Oliver has ever levied a fine. In fact he has only twice found a member in violation of the act. One was the matter of a deck for then premier Glen Clark, "who received certain benefits from a personal friend, a building contractor who at the same time was seeking a provincial casino license."

Though a separate court action found Clark not guilty, Oliver found he'd crossed the lines set by the Conflict of Interest Act, which includes provisions around avoiding even the appearance of a conflict. "It was my view that the loss of his high office constituted in and of itself as heavy a penalty as could be imposed upon any politician and I therefore did not recommend the imposition of any penalty."

The other complaint involved the late Liberal Jeremy Dalton, who wrote letters on official letterhead to public officials on behalf of a relative. "I found him in violation of the act and reported to the Speaker that I thought the offence was due to inadvertence, that I had discussed the matter with the member and felt that the offence would not be repeated.

"I was wrong; it was repeated and the member was excluded from his party caucus."

Temptation's 'ugly head'

Oliver's other suggestions include covering the legal expenses of members accused of violating the act, allowing professionals to work enough to maintain their qualifications and renaming the act to remove "conflict of interest" from its title.

"I suggest that 'Integrity Act' or 'Members' Integrity Act' (as in Ontario) presents a more positive image of our function and is preferable to the negative image conveyed by the use of the words 'conflict of interest,'" he said. "It seems better for the public to associate the word 'integrity' with Members of the Legislative Assembly rather than the words 'conflict of interest.'"

He wrote, "It is the constant endeavour of this office to prevent conflicts of interest from arising at all."

In general, he said, MLAs are "honourable, honest and well-intentioned" people who would never knowingly break the conflict rules. "When on rare occasions a Member approached the borderline of the apparent conflict of interest prohibition it was generally due to a lack of that life experience that enables one to recognize temptation before it rears it [sic] ugly head."

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