Arizona Commission Targets Conflict of Interest in Draft Ethics Code
A draft ethics code for the Arizona Corporation Commission would create an ethics officer and clarify rules on conflicts of interest and financial disclosure. Commissioner Boyd Dunn, spearheading the ethics code, said he wants to adopt a final version before March. The draft is a step forward for the Arizona commission but doesn’t go far enough given the body’s history (see 1712010034), a government watchdog said Tuesday.
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"The Arizona Corporation Commission is dedicated to ensuring the public trust," said a preamble to the draft released Friday in docket 17-0079. "As members of a public body, the Commissioners should respect and comply with the law and should conduct themselves at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Commission. This code of ethics is intended to recognize and establish the moral duties and obligations of a Commissioner that involve not only obeying the law, but also performing their duties with the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct."
Dunn wants comments by Jan. 19 and plans a workshop in “early February,” the Ethics Committee chairman wrote in a letter introducing the code. “I offer this draft for discussion purposes, knowing that it will be amended and finalized after rigorous review,” Dunn said. The commission should adopt a final code “no later than the end of February 2018,” he said.
The eight-page draft incorporates rules from the NARUC ethics code and Arizona statutes and includes sections on harassment, conflicts of interest, financial disclosure and public information access. It also creates an ethics officer to train and advise commissioners, but enforcement would come through referral of violations to the state attorney general.
Arizona commissioners must disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from matters where they have conflict, under the draft code. Commissioners wouldn’t be allowed to work for or have financial interest in a regulated company. They wouldn’t be able to accept refreshments or other gifts from regulated entities that have matters pending before the commission, though the draft carves out other contexts, “provided that the purpose of the transaction is not, or does not appear to be, designed to influence official action.” Attending and accepting travel reimbursement for certain conferences and other educational events would be allowed, the draft said. Commissioners would have to disclose any gift worth at least $20.
The draft would require commissioners to file financial disclosures with the Arizona secretary of state and make them publicly available on the ACC website. Campaign contributions and lobbyist registrations should be disclosed, it said. Public records would include commissioners’ electronic messages "that have a substantial nexus" to commission activities and would cover commissioners’ private devices and private email accounts, the draft said.
The draft also responds to concerns about employment practices flagged by Commissioner Bob Burns at prior workshops. Burns urged investigation of recent resignations by two top ACC officials (see 1709150051). The draft cites Arizona law: “Commissioners shall not with corrupt intent use their political influence or position to cause the firing, promotion, or demotion of any Commission employee or the hiring or failure to hire any applicant for employment with the Commission.”
It’s “definitely an improvement” over existing ACC ethics policies, said Public Citizen Government Affairs Lobbyist Craig Holman in an interview. “But given the very questionable past of the Arizona Corporation Commission, it should have gone further.” Holman doubts the ACC will strengthen the code before adoption, he said, “and they may end up weakening it.”
Holman praised proposed prohibition of commissioner employment or financial interest in regulated entities. The watchdog also likes required financial disclosure statements and recusals, he said. One weakness is the conflict-of-interest standard appears to cover only the present term, so an official for a regulated company could “quit on Monday and then become a commissioner on Tuesday, and start taking official actions that affect [the] former employer,” Holman said. A reasonable revolving-door standard would look two years back, and stop a commissioner from becoming a private lobbyist for two years after service, Holman said. Also, the ACC should ban pay-to-play and ensure that qualifying language about acceptable gifts doesn’t weaken the restrictions, he said. The ethics officer created by the code should have independent enforcement authority, the watchdog said.