The public’s right to know

A recent online poll in one of our local papers asked this question: Should the statements of financial interest of public officials be made public?

Yes.

Public officials make decisions that affect the financial interest of all of us. So it is only right that we should all know how those decisions affect the pocketbooks of public officials.

Open disclosure will not stop officials from making decisions based on their own financial self-interest. But at least we will be able to see it.

I have heard it said that financial disclosure is a violation of the right to privacy. So I did some research. I learned that the courts have generally not seen any constitutional right to privacy when it comes to the finances of public officials.

In fact, there are some 30,000 people in the federal government who are required by law to file public financial disclosure reports. These officials are in all three branches of government—the legislative, executive, and judicial. And I am one.

We have to disclose detailed information concerning our income, any gifts we receive, reimbursements from private non-governmental sources, as well as information on financial holdings and transactions in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real property. We also have to disclose any agreement for future employment.

And we have to file this information not just for ourselves, but also for our spouses and dependent children.

We file these financial reports on an annual basis, detailing information for the previous year. But we also have to file a report within 45 days, whenever we make a transaction worth over $1,000.

The public and the press can see these reports and download them from the Internet for the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, Cabinet officials, and heads of executive branch and independent agencies. Reports for lower level employees are available for public inspection at the employee’s agency.

The Ethics in Government Act, requiring financial disclosure and reporting, was enacted in 1978. So there has been plenty of time for legal challenges. But the courts have made clear that requiring public officials to disclose their finances does not violate their constitutional right to privacy.

Here in the Commonwealth our laws already require that some public officials file financial disclosures with the Office of the Public Auditor. But the disclosures are kept confidential to the public.

So we need to go farther. Our Legislature could expand the law to require that those disclosures be made public, posted on the Internet even, where we could all see them, and to require that they include information about spouses and dependent children, too.

That change would not be groundbreaking compared to the federal requirements. But it would make a huge statement about our own Legislature’s respect for the people of our Commonwealth and for our right to know.

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan
Garapan, Saipan