Personal Politics – All too often, legislators’ private interests are hidden from public view

Special Report

Personal Politics

All too often, legislators’ private interests are hidden from public view

 

By David Dagan
Data by Daniel Lathrop, Susan Schaab and Leah Rush

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2004 — State legislators directly influence the lives of all Americans. The 7,400 lawmakers in state capitals across the country passed more than 42,000 laws in 2003 alone and spent more than $1 trillion in taxpayer money in fiscal 2002.

But state representatives are also often uniquely positioned to influence their personal financial fortunes or those of their employers while in office. In fact, more than 28 percent of state legislators who reported their finances sat on a committee with authority over at least one of their personal interests in 2001, according to a recent Center for Public Integrity report. Eighteen percent disclosed ties to organizations registered to lobby state government. And 10 percent were employed by other government agencies, including public schools and universities. See Who’s the Boss: Legislators with other government jobs.

Although state legislators frequently have jurisdiction over areas in which they hold personal interests, many states have weak mechanisms for disclosing those ties, a companion Center report notes. In fact, 24 states received failing scores on making basic information about the outside interests of their legislators available to the public.

Read this Report here