State Debate: Come down hard in Interior scandal

A 9/22 roundup of editorials in state papers

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  9/22/2008 8:45 am

Come down hard in Interior scandal, says the Appleton Post-Crescent.

According to the inspector general, more than a dozen employees of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service in Denver had accepted gifts from people in the gas and oil industries. Some of them used drugs with and had sex with industry staffers. Two of them allegedly rigged contracts.

The report paints a picture of a department utterly lacking in ethics and professional conduct.

The inspector general, Earl Devaney, called it a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" and said that the offenders were "wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards."

And yet only two of the MMS employees have had charges pursued against them. That's inexcusable.

Good grief -- if they aren't punished for this, what would they have to do to get punished?

Great Lakes deserve equally great protection, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In this session's waning days, Congress has a chance to take three important steps to protect the lakes: Approve the Great Lakes compact, approve the Great Lakes Legacy Act, and pass new restrictions on ballast to keep out more invasive species.

While John McCain and Barack Obama have expressed their support for legislation to restore the Great Lakes -- and Obama last week offered a $5 billion plan to help with restoration -- Great Lakes states voters need to hold their feet to the fire.

Great Lakes advocates have called for a $20 billion federal plan to restore the lakes. Ambitious and expensive, such a plan is nevertheless a sound investment in the region's economic future. The Brookings Institution has said that restoring the lakes would generate between $80 billion and $100 billion in economic benefit to the region.

Ask the candidates early and often about their commitment to the Great Lakes.

Ask candidates about open government issues, says the La Crosse Tribune.

Openness in government is so important in an elective democracy that both Wisconsin's open meetings and open records laws make note of it in preambles.

How are we doing in real life? Not always so good.

At the state and local levels, problems include overcharging for records; delays in responding to open records requests; problems getting police and prosecution information; legislators providing information about bill drafts to some interest groups while withholding information from other groups or members of the public; attempts by legislators to limit access to court records online; abuses of laws allowing closed meetings, particularly for economic development.

Ask candidates how they will ensure that citizens have the information they need to be responsible citizens.

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  9/22/2008 8:45 am