State gets failing grade on disclosure laws
Virginia's disclosure laws for the members of its General Assembly have received a failing grade from the Center for Public Integrity.
Virginia is among 20 of the 50 states that were given a failing grade after a 43-question survey that measures public access to information about legislators' employment, investments, personal finances and property holdings. The center defined a failing grade as a score of less than 60 points on the survey.
At 59.5, Virginia just barely failed, but its ranking was 31st among the 50 states.
Virginia's financial disclosure laws require the legislators to state their assets and liabilities, but only within a broad range. For example, a legislator must state whether he or she or a member of the immediate family owns securities valued between $10,001 and $50,000, $50,001 to $250,000, or more than $250,000.
The center said Idaho, Michigan and Vermont are in last place because no personal financial disclosure laws exist in those states.
-- Tyler Whitley
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Reader Reactions
It should read VIRGINIA NEWSPAPERS GET FAILING GRADE,because Virginia newspapers seem to be an echo chamber for the politicians in Virginia.
There is absolutely no real attempt by the News Media in Virginia to ferret out anything, to expose why taxpayers pay big money for small results, or why the politicians seem so cozy with the business interests in Virginia to the detriment of the taxpayer.
You never see the Times Dispatch or the Daily Press actively pursing any questions about why politicians seem to get rich in office while the infrastructure in Virginia, the Schools, the Roads, the DMV are all cutting back on services and personnel.
There’s something rotten in the state of Virginia and the Media is ignoring the stench.
Could it be because the Media is simply the mouth piece for business and government interests and not really the guardian of truth and democracy, the watchdog of the people as evisioned by the founding fathers when they wrote into the Constitution a protection for “freedom of speech”?
I say that dog don’t hunt. It’s now a lapdog of the very entities it is supposed to be watching.
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