MHDC Unanimously Passes Ethics Reforms Over Kinder's Objections

Heeding State Treasurer Clint Zweifel's demands for higher standards at the Missouri Housing Development Commission, the MHDC adopted a package of comprehensive ethics reforms today. As detailed by the Associated Press, the new ethics package "requires housing commissioners and agency staff to disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from decision-making, forces developers seeking state assistance to disclose the project’s owner and development team and makes enforcement easier."

Strangely, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder asked the MHDC to delay the vote, admitting that he had not even read the proposal before him. Kinder said he was "not sure they [the new rules] are completely the way we want them." Fortunately, the Commission ignored his request and, with Kinder abstaining, unanimously voted to approve the package.

It's hard to understand Kinder's refusal to prepare himself for today's MHDC meeting and his refusal to support the new ethics standards. The reforms adopted today have been in the works for two years, giving Kinder plenty of time to get up to speed. On July 7, a three-member MHDC subcommittee met to adopt a draft of the new standards -- with the input of Kinder's Deputy Lieutenant Governor, Jerry Dowell. Last week, Kinder's office received a hard copy of the finalized proposal, which was also available online for review all week.

Kinder's excuse? He's spent the last two weeks traveling. 

For a man with so few actual responsibilities, it seems reasonable to expect that Kinder be adequately prepared for a simple MHDC vote -- especially when it concerns a matter of such importance.

Image Credit: Jewish Federation of St. Louis