One of the ways in which you can measure the agency’s performance, and the compliance of the communities that it regulates, is through the enforcement actions it takes under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act. It is under this Act that the OSE opens contested cases, conducts hearings, and imposes penalties. If we look at the numbers from the lobbying community, we see a definite trend emerge.
read more ››Posts Tagged ‘Office of State Ethics’
UAPA Fines Demonstrates Trend Toward Increased Compliance by Lobbying Community
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010Office of State Ethics Audits State Marshals’ Statements of Income and Finds Room for Improvement
Thursday, October 28th, 2010The Office of State Ethics recently completed its first audit of Connecticut’s state marshals’ statements of income. Similar to the audits the agency conducts of lobbyists and public officials’ statements of financial interest, the SOIs are filings which indicate the state marshals’ income and provide a look into their dealings with court related business.
read more ››October OSE Board Meeting - 2011 Legislative Agenda Approved
Monday, October 25th, 2010The Board Members of the Office of State Ethics met last week to discuss, among other things, their legislative agenda for 2011. Most of the provisions in this legislative proposal were put forward in the last two years. Many may recall that the OSE had been unsuccessful in passing legislation due to the Senate Republican [...]
read more ››Office of State Ethics – Ethics Day Materials
Sunday, October 10th, 2010At the beginning of the month the Office of State Ethics held its annual Ethics Day celebration. This year marked the fifth anniversary for the agency. After an initial presentation by Dr. Michael Rion, one of the first members of the Citizens Advisory Board, attendees broke up into two groups - one lead by the OSE’s legal division where recent advisory opinions were discussed and the other lead by the agency’s enforcement division which reviewed trends in audit and compliance.
read more ››Ethics Matters Conference this Friday in Hartford
Monday, September 27th, 2010The Office of State Ethics will celebrate its 5th anniversary in Hartford this Friday with its annual conference entitled “Ethics Matters.” This year’s conference includes a keynote address from the first Chair, Michael Rion, Ph.D., as well as break out sessions on the latest news from the Enforcement and Legal Divisions. It’s a great opporunity to get updated on what has been going on at the agency and to hear about the hot topics in the ethics world
read more ››Office of State Ethics Issues Audit Report on Statements of Financial Interest - Lobbyist Compliance Deserves Credit Too
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010The Office of State Ethics last week issued a press release announcing its audit report on the completion of the annual statements of financial disclosure by the state’s public officials and top employees. The agency began auditing these SFIs last year so this was the first time that the annual report was able to compare results. On the lobbyist side of the regulated community, the OSE produced a similar review at the end of 2009 after conducting 80 random audits over a three year period.
read more ››Pendulum of Ethics Reform
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010Ethics reform was all the rage when Governor Rell took office. But vestiges of the Rell administration’s changes to the Office of State Ethics still linger and some are evidenced by the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board’s inability to fill its membership ranks.
read more ››Update on Office of State Ethics Board Meeting Today
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010The Citizens Advisory Board of the office of State Ethics met today and covered several issues of interest. Of particular note to the lobbying and state contractor community were two items. The first was the Legal Division’s request of the Board to issue and Advisory Opinion on the question of whether or not a state employee or public official may receive funding from a non-restrictive donor to attend a conference or other educational opportunity. Second, the OSE had been criticized by the media in the spring for failing to issue a press release when a public official paid a penalty for a late filing of their statement of financial interest (SFI). Executive Director Carol Carson provided the Board with a Press Release Policy for the agency which stated that, while current policy is to issue a release for action brought under CGS 1-82 or CGS 1-93 that result in a probable cause finding or a public resolution only, going forward the agency will be adding new features to its website that will post when a public official or lobbyist has violated UAPA or 1-82 or 1-93.
read more ››Interview with Carol Carson, Executive Director of the Office of State Ethics
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Carol Carson was appointed by the Citizens Ethics Advisory Board to serve as the Executive Director of the Connecticut Office of State Ethics in December 2007. I asked Carol to reflect on her first two years at the Office of State Ethics and to talk a little about the projects she is looking forward to tackling next.
read more ››Update on Office of State Ethics
Monday, June 21st, 2010As we head into the summer months, the Office of State Ethics has a lot going on of interest to the regulated community. As we posted last week, the agency drew 40 names of client lobbyists who will be subject to audit during the coming months. In addition, a recent email notified public officials that they will for the second year be auditing a 10% sample of their Statements of Financial Interest or SFIs. At last week’s Advisory Board meeting, Executive Director Carol Carson reported to the members that the Enforcement Division would begin sending out notices to public officials 30 days after a report has been filed by a lobbyist indicating that a benefit for that public official has been made. Finally, the Board members discussed the need to find replacements for the three open seats on the nine-member Advisory Board.
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