Fostering Good Government
Regretfully, the people’s trust is violated too often through abuse and corruption by some elected officials and other public servants. During the 2010 session, the Legislature considered several important measures to combat public corruption, including a bill to allow for the prosecution of public servants who purposefully fail to disclose a financial conflict of interest or a future financial benefit from their public service.But I wish even more had been accomplished to improve the public’s access to state government. Also, more could have been done this session to restore voter confidence, close loopholes in the elections statutes and protect voters’ rights. For one, I am disappointed that a bill did not pass to amend the state constitution to require budget documents to be more user-friendly and easier to understand. A proposed constitutional amendment, which I supported, sought to prevent last-minute backroom budget and legislative deals that seek to avoid public input and scrutiny.
I am also disappointed that the Legislature sent to the governor a bill -- which thankfully he vetoed -- that would have, in my view, impaired the public’s ability to track the influence of money in elections. Senate Bill 880 was promoted as an attempt to provide greater transparency in how campaign funds are used and to crack down on shadowy special interests looking to influence Florida’s elections.
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