Posted on: Monday, April 21, 2003

EDITORIAL
Council ethics rules should hit high note

There's a reason why the City Council is being held to higher ethical standards.

Lest we forget, former council member Andy Mirikitani is serving a four-year term in federal prison for theft, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and witness-tampering and former council member Rene Mansho is serving a year jail sentence for misusing city money and campaign contributions.

These and other scandals were repeatedly invoked during the 2002 election campaign as a driving force behind meaningful campaign finance reform.

Yet in practice, some City Council members are finding that certain aspects of campaign finance reform — such as a cap on gifts worth more than $200 — are, well, awkward.

In response, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi wants the city to adopt a state law that requires officials to file a disclosure statement only for gifts worth more than $200.

According to her rationale, fund-raising dinners can cost more than $200 a seat, and Asian visitors are known to bear gifts worth more than $200. All true. And fundamentally, too bad. Such rules are, to coin a phrase, the cost of doing business at City Hall.

Monitoring contributions and gifts is the key to good ethics rules.

Meanwhile, council members can certainly turn down the occasional fund-raiser if the ticket cost exceeds the $200 limit. All they have to do is explain their conflict and that will reinforce a public perception that they cannot be bought.