The Indiana General Assembly has returned to the issue of local government reform after two sessions of failed attempts with what its leaders hope to be streamlined bills that can gain easy passage. Among the measures on their way to becoming law is one that prohibits employees of local government from serving in an elected office that has fiscal or administrative jurisdiction over their employment, and that also bars local government officials from hiring a family member who would work under their supervision.
The law makes sense. The additional conflicts faced by office holders who also are government employees — the understandable ranking of one’s own department’s needs over others, plus the direct and implied pressure they may receive from co-workers and bosses — make this ban reasonable, though its extension to volunteer firefighters is a step too far.
Nepotism, too, creates conflicts and a perception of unfairness and public distrust that make it a reasonable target of regulation.
But while the General Assembly tries to legislate away conflicts of interest and abuses of power, let’s not forget where the real power lies: with the voters.
Voters knowingly, and frequently, elect foxes to guard their henhouses. And, they see and hear about nepotism at work in municipal, township and county governments, but continue to elect its practitioners.
Whenever a legislature begins to do voters’ jobs for them, it’s cause for concern, and should serve as a wake-up call to voters. New laws don’t fix the underlying problems.
Reform needs to be done at the voters’ level.