PG County's Pretend Ethics Board

Summary:  The Ethics Board staff reviews financial disclosure forms for completeness, but not for conflicts of interest.  So, what's the point of having the Board or requiring employees to fill out forms?

Prince George's ethics review commission sees challenges in cleaning up county.
Post, 16 Feb 2011 (Spivack).

A commission created by Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) ran headlong into some big challenges Tuesday night ... Some of the testimony to the commission:

The county has an ethics board, but one of its five positions has been vacant for several years, and Baker's predecessor, Jack B. Johnson, apparently did nothing to fill the seat. Johnson, 61, was indicted Monday on bribery and other charges in a widening federal corruption probe. ...

The forms that top county employees and elected officials are required to fill out in theory are aimed at identifying conflicts of interest ... but the staff does not identify those conflicts. ... The forms are reviewed "for completeness. We do not review for conflicts. ...

The ethics board is staffed by the county attorney's office, which reports to the county executive. ...

[Full story]

Note: the Board of Ethics page on the county website does NOT identify any of the board members and does not include an e-mail address for the board..