McCormick/Goodin campaign continues ‘common sense’ plan series with new ethics plan

INDIANAPOLIS — The Democratic ticket in Indiana’s governor race continued its release of “common sense” plans on Thursday, focusing this go-around on ethics.

According to a news release from the campaign of Jennifer McCormick, the state’s former superintendent of public instruction and the Democratic governor nominee, the plan focuses on increasing governmental transparency, lobbyist regulation as well as elected official accountability to Indiana’s state and local governments.

In November’s general election, McCormick and Terry Goodin, a former state lawmaker and educator, will face U.S Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Micah Beckwith on the Republican side, as well as Donald Rainwater and Tonya Hudson on the Libertarian side.

Thursday’s announcement comes after the McCormick/Goodin campaign released their “common sense” property tax relief plan and education plan over the last few weeks.

“Hoosiers deserve a transparent, ethical government above reproach,” McCormick said in the release. “Our commonsense plan addresses erosion in public access and transparency, better regulates special interests’ influence of government, locks the legislator to lobbyist revolving door in the Statehouse, and provides a reporting mechanism for sexual harassment.”

The campaign’s ethics plan centers around six measures that they believe will provide “more ethical and transparent government for Hoosiers,” including:

• Increased transparency and state and local government
  • McCormick said that legal bias should be restored towards public disclosure, stressing that government records are public records unless a “compelling public benefit exists to limit their disclosure.”
  • The state should ensure that the legislature is bound by Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act and the state should include links to campaign finance and statements of economic interests on the Indiana Transparency Portal.
• Total lobbyist gift ban
  • McCormick said that lobbyists should be banned from giving anything of value to a legislative or executive official, including members of the Indiana General Assembly.
  • The campaign believes that criminal penalties should be imposed for both lobbyists and legislative persons for gift ban violations.
• Remove lobbyists from political offices
  • McCormick said that registered lobbyists should be precluded from holding a position on a political committee.
• Lock revolving door
  • The campaign said that Indiana’s post-employment restriction on lobbying activity should be increased to three years after leaving public office.
• Reform campaign finance reporting
  • McCormick said that candidates for public office in Indiana should file campaign finance reports with the state election division and standardize quarterly reporting in election and non-election years.
  • The campaign said that state and local candidates, as well as elected officials, should also file the same statement of economic interest form with the state’s election commission.
• Sexual harassment reporting
  • The campaign said that under this plan, the inspector general will establish a confidential reporting mechanism for sexual harassment committed by state or local, elected or appointed, officials and lobbyists.
  • After the office completes its investigation, the inspector general will inform the state’s ethics committee of the findings. If criminal actions are warranted, the campaign said the findings would be referred to the prosecutor of record. If it is a noncriminal matter, the findings will be referred to the appropriate personnel department.
  • The campaign said that if an incident involves an elected official, the ethics committee will publicize the findings.

During a Thursday morning news conference, McCormick said the plan serves as a promise to Hoosiers that a McCormick/Goodin administration would have the highest of standards in government, bringing back trust in government to Indiana residents.

“There are areas that Hoosiers do trust their elected officials… but for us, it’s time that the state of Indiana show and set an example for everyone (with an aggressive ethics plan),” McCormick said.

Specifically regarding the sexual harassment portion of the plan, McCormick stressed multiple times that the use of the inspector general’s office is “one more avenue” to create a reformed reporting mechanism, making sure individuals are heard and there is a confidential place to report actions by state and local government employees.

McCormick said it is not a new problem in the state of Indiana, stressing that reforming a reporting mechanism is a long time coming.

In a news release, Destiny Wells, the Democratic attorney general candidate for the state of Indiana, praised McCormick’s ethics plan. Wells is facing Republican incumbent Todd Rokita in November’s general election.

“Indiana state government has consistently lagged in transparency and accountability grades by government watchdogs for decades,” Wells said. “It is beyond time Indiana does more for Hoosiers working in state and local governments—and it’s beyond time Hoosiers’ trust is restored, especially since our current Attorney General Todd Rokita is a walking ethics scandal himself. Jennifer McCormick’s transformative ethics plan will do more to restore trust than Hoosiers have seen in generations.”

Officials from Braun’s campaign released a statement regarding McCormick’s ethics plan announcement, stating:

“Rather than just talking about reforms in a campaign press release, Mike Braun took action: he wrote the federal ban on lobbying for former members of Congress, forced votes to cut every corrupt earmark from every spending bill, and has fought constantly for transparency in government at the highest levels for Hoosiers,” Josh Kelley, a senior advisor for the Braun campaign, said in a statement to FOX59/CBS4. “Jennifer McCormick is a say anything, do nothing politician.”

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