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August 08. 2012 12:31AM
Speaker calls for more oversight over ethics
CONCORD — The recent incidents of alleged impropriety among state executive branch officials has House Speaker William O’Brien calling for either an inspector general’s office or a legislative oversight committee.
“There has to be a more systematic way of looking at these issues,” he said Tuesday. “As the executive branch or Legislature, at some point you have to say ‘Where does the problem come from and how do you do a better job for people of New Hampshire?’”
Earlier this year, the House and Senate approved slightly different versions of Senate Bill 188, which would have established a study committee to determine if the state should have an inspector general’s office, but could not agree on a compromise and the bill died.
The bill was introduced to address the Financial Research Management case where the company’s founder swindled more than 150 lenders out of $33 million over at least five years and three state agencies failed to take the lead to address the problem.
This summer, issues have been raised about 300 missing cases of wine from a Portsmouth liquor store and how the Liquor Commission handled the situation.
Also this summer, top Department of Employment Security officials no longer lead the agency due to a nepotism scandal.
Some of the issues in the Liquor Commission incident were identified 20 years ago in an audit, O’Brien noted.
“People expect better from us,” he said. “I’m concerned about this as we want government to operate the best way possible.”
If he returns as speaker, O’Brien said he would explore expanding the authority of the Redress of Grievances Committee to include oversight powers.
“I see this as a real positive way to respond appropriately to agencies and situations that aren’t ideal,” he said.
Senate President Peter Bragdon said there is a systematic problem because the Attorney General acts as legal council for all state departments, yet when an issue is raised the office then has to do an investigation of the agency it represents.
“I’m not sure establishing a full-time department or office is the best way to handle this,” he said. “There needs to be some way to have a more independent investigation on the large issues. I’m not sure a legislative oversight committee is the best way to do that.
The best approach is to have a strong executive leading the executive branch, Bragdon said.
Gov. John Lynch’s press secretary Colin Manning said “The governor has always made ethics and integrity a priority and he believes all public officials — elected and appointed — should be held to the highest
standards of ethics and integrity and he hopes going forward the next governor and next Legislature will make it a priority as he has done over the last eight years.”
Garry Rayno may be reached at grayno@unionleader.com.
“There has to be a more systematic way of looking at these issues,” he said Tuesday. “As the executive branch or Legislature, at some point you have to say ‘Where does the problem come from and how do you do a better job for people of New Hampshire?’”
Earlier this year, the House and Senate approved slightly different versions of Senate Bill 188, which would have established a study committee to determine if the state should have an inspector general’s office, but could not agree on a compromise and the bill died.
The bill was introduced to address the Financial Research Management case where the company’s founder swindled more than 150 lenders out of $33 million over at least five years and three state agencies failed to take the lead to address the problem.
This summer, issues have been raised about 300 missing cases of wine from a Portsmouth liquor store and how the Liquor Commission handled the situation.
Also this summer, top Department of Employment Security officials no longer lead the agency due to a nepotism scandal.
Some of the issues in the Liquor Commission incident were identified 20 years ago in an audit, O’Brien noted.
“People expect better from us,” he said. “I’m concerned about this as we want government to operate the best way possible.”
If he returns as speaker, O’Brien said he would explore expanding the authority of the Redress of Grievances Committee to include oversight powers.
“I see this as a real positive way to respond appropriately to agencies and situations that aren’t ideal,” he said.
Senate President Peter Bragdon said there is a systematic problem because the Attorney General acts as legal council for all state departments, yet when an issue is raised the office then has to do an investigation of the agency it represents.
“I’m not sure establishing a full-time department or office is the best way to handle this,” he said. “There needs to be some way to have a more independent investigation on the large issues. I’m not sure a legislative oversight committee is the best way to do that.
The best approach is to have a strong executive leading the executive branch, Bragdon said.
Gov. John Lynch’s press secretary Colin Manning said “The governor has always made ethics and integrity a priority and he believes all public officials — elected and appointed — should be held to the highest
standards of ethics and integrity and he hopes going forward the next governor and next Legislature will make it a priority as he has done over the last eight years.”
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Garry Rayno may be reached at grayno@unionleader.com.