Dan Krassner: Florida must rid itself of corruption reputation

Florida needs to take the problem of public corruption more seriously. Florida led the nation in federal public corruption convictions between 2000 and 2010 and recently three of our mayors were arrested in one month.

Even the New York Times is calling Florida a “hothouse for corruption.” A reputation for corruption hurts all Floridians and undermines the state’s ability to attract jobs, talent and capital.

Florida could repair its image and be on track for a better future if our policymakers set a goal of making our state and local governments the most open, ethical, responsive and accountable in America.

Here are several solutions for achieving that goal:

Finish the job of meaningful ethics reform.  The Legislature passed two ethics reform laws earlier this year, but there is more work to be done to increase government transparency and accountability.

Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford prioritized passage of several of the anti-corruption recommendations outlined in the 19th statewide grand jury report, but lawmakers still need to pass the rest.

That means giving the Florida Commission on Ethics the authority to initiate investigations, imposing tougher penalties for violations, strengthening the independence of inspector generals, protecting whistle-blowers and enacting a stronger ethics code.

Eliminate cronyism.  The ethics code should cover all employees and vendors performing a government function or service, including government-run groups such as Enterprise Florida.

There should be criminal penalties for conflicts of interest, misuse of a public position and self-dealing.  All programs that function as systems of legalized corruption and cronyism should be overhauled or eliminated.  State and local government policies should be free of favoritism and instead focus on creating vibrant communities where every employer matters and entrepreneurship thrives.

Fair access to public office.  More Floridians should have a chance to serve in the Legislature.  The campaign finance system should be overhauled so that the pool of credible candidates includes more than just special interest group insiders, political party favorites and incumbents.

All candidates should have a fair chance to run for office, broadcast their message, enter debates and offer voters more choices.  A legislator’s compensation needs to be closer to the salary of a congressman.  Repeal term limits, restore the runoff election, eliminate single member districts and close write-in loopholes.

Open budgets.  Government budgets at the state and local levels should be statements of our priorities that are built with more public participation, access to data to track results and maximum benefits for all Floridians.  A state budget tracking website that includes all records related to planning, budgeting, contracts and personnel should be launched immediately.

Open contracts.  End bid-tampering, bid-rigging, bid-splitting and no-bid contracts.  Create a uniform, competitive procurement policy and an online platform for access to all records for every state and local government entity.  Allow more citizen voices into the contracting process and never allow contracts to be approved without disclosure of the vendor name.

Open data.  Unleash all of the non-confidential data paid for by taxpayers to be used by consumers and for citizens to know if government programs are working.

Floridians should be able to easily measure the success of government programs.  We could use information already collected by our government if bulk data was made available for download and use.  Mobile app developers and researchers would use this data to create jobs and tell us more about school choices and our health care options.

Policymakers must enact these reforms now to end corruption, protect jobs and secure Florida’s future.