Push is on to force lawmakers to reveal government income

By Michael Sluss

Virginia lawmakers would have to disclose income that they and their immediate families receive from state and local government agencies under legislation designed to strengthen the General Assembly's Conflicts of Interests Act.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County, is one of several ethics-related measures likely to be filed in the aftermath of a scandal involving former Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News.

Hamilton, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, lost his re-election bid this fall after revelations that he negotiated a $40,000-a-year job for himself at Old Dominion University in 2007 while also working to secure state startup funding for the university center that employed him. He resigned from the House before an ethics panel could complete an investigation of his actions.

Hamilton disclosed his ODU income on the statement of economic interests that House and Senate members must file with their respective clerks, but he had no legal requirement to do so.

Legislators must disclose sources of income that exceed $10,000 annually, but the law specifically excludes income that lawmakers and their immediate families earn from state and local government entities, such as public colleges. Some lawmakers disclose such income anyway, but others don't.

Smith said he can think of no justification for such an exemption and wants to do away with it. His bill would simply change the word "exclude" to "include" on the form telling lawmakers how to report income from state and local government.

"Hopefully this will benefit us all," Smith said Wednesday.

"If you are deriving income from state entities, this is not to take away your livelihood," he said. "It's telling the voters who put you there what you're doing, and they will be the ones who decide if that's acceptable."

Smith, a former Roanoke mayor, said the disclosure bill ( SB4) is one in a series of government transparency measures he intends to introduce in the 2010 session. Smith said he also plans to reintroduce a bill requiring the state budget to be posted online for 72 hours before lawmakers vote on it. An identical proposal was defeated in the 2009 session.

The repercussions from Hamilton's case will draw more attention to ethics issues in the upcoming session, said House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County. Armstrong has indicated that he will push to make legislative ethics investigations open to the public. He also voiced support for Smith's bill.

"I think there is a feeling amongst the people that special interests control government and, as a result, I think we need to continue to work to make certain that's not the case here in Virginia," Armstrong said. "I don't think that Virginia's laws are as protective of the public's interests as they should be."