Lowlights From Audits of House And Senate Operations
Reading through the audits released today by State Auditor Susan Montee's office concerning operations in the General Assembly, I grew more than a little depressed. There is good coverage of their contents from the AP, Tribune and Post-Dispatch, and the audits are available in full below the jump.
A few lowlights that stood out:
A no-bid contract with the House for printing services worth millions
In June 2005, under the leadership of Speaker Rod Jetton, the House inexplicably entered into a 5-year contract without a standard competitive bidding process. Montee writes:
"The circumstances surrounding the decision to privatize this operation and the selection of the service contractor are troubling and do not provide assurance this decision was made in a proper competitive environment." Moreover, "the House could provide no documentation which indicated an internal cost benefit analysis was performed to support the decision to out-source this operation."
Additionally, the contract was awarded to the current vendor even though the previous company showed they could provide the same service for less cost to taxpayers. "[T]he reason(s) why Vendor A's proposal was selected could not be determined."
Members and staff are actively soliciting donations from lobbyists to pay for food and drinks at the Capital during session
The House does not keep track of what lobbyists spend on its Members -- they're asked to pay vendors directly for late-night snacks, Christmas parties and retirement fiestas. Lobbyists are required to report any gifts to the Missouri Ethics Commission, but because House leadership turns a blind eye to the expenses, there's no way to tell if all gifts are properly disclosed.
The House's responded to the audit findings regarding lobbyist disclosure by basically saying, "It's not our problem." To that, Montee replied: "Considering lobbyists have incurred expenditures supporting House events/functions, it seems House officials would have an interest in promoting compliance with the Missouri Ethics Law regarding the reporting of those expenditures.
On the Senate side, a special bank account was created in December 2003 (under the leadership of then-Senator Peter Kinder) outside the state treasury to collect lobbyist donations and pay food and drink vendors. However, the Auditor's report shows, a majority of the donations auditors examined were not reported to the MEC as required by law.
[It appears many donations received from lobbyists were not
reported on the lobbyists' expenditure reports as required by state law. We reviewed 15 donations, totaling $10,365, from lobbyists received between April and August 2008 and noted that at least 9 of the donations, totaling $8,035, were not properly reported by the lobbyists on the monthly expenditure reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The House paid $15,149 in January 2007 for new-Member lapel pins and charms ($73/item), and $19,442 for pins and charms in 2009 ($93/item).
This is just ridiculous. If Members really needs a trinket to feel like they've "arrived" at the Capitol, maybe they can foot the bill themselves?
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Some basic reforms are clearly in order.
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