EDITORIAL
Conflicts of interest have no boundaries

If there's one thing the public and press need to know about our elected leaders, it's whether they hold a financial stake in the decisions they make and the laws they pass.

But it's impossible to establish that if the candidates don't file complete financial disclosure forms.

By complete, we mean all their property and business interests — everywhere. We cannot let them hide their private financial interests. Yet we do.

The Legislature has killed a measure that would have required candidates for state elected office to disclose property and business holdings outside Hawai'i.

It's simply shortsighted and provincial not to require candidates to disclose their out-of-state assets in this era of globalization.

Perhaps there was a time when all the business of politics took place within our borders. But no longer. A look at almost any campaign spending report will show plentiful contributions from individuals and organizations from outside Hawai'i.

The Washington-based nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity researched financial disclosure reports in 47 states and found that in nearly half the states, lawmakers were able to hide private financial interests from the public.

Despite that, the study found plenty of conflicts of interest.

• In Florida, 21 percent of lawmakers sat on legislative committees that regulated their own profession or business interest, and 28 percent had financial ties to businesses or organizations that lobby state government.
• Almost 60 percent of North Carolina lawmakers sat on committees that directly affected their private income.
• In Ohio, a senator who collected more than $161,000 in consulting fees from First Energy Corp. sponsored a bill that would allow the company to gain up to $8 billion.

And there are plenty more.

It ought to be pretty clear by now why we deserve full financial disclosure from those elected to represent us — not their own private interests.