Governor Lynch's Veto Message Regarding SB 440

Statement

By the authority vested in me, pursuant to part II, Article 44 of the New Hampshire Constitution, on July 20, 2010, I vetoed SB 440.

Since becoming Governor, I have worked hard to establish effective, comprehensive and clear ethics standards for state government. As part of my efforts to assure integrity in state government, I signed into law in 2006 bipartisan legislation strengthening state ethics laws, including the establishment of the first-ever Executive Branch Ethics Committee. The Committee consists of seven members, who are charged with investigating allegations of violations of state ethics laws by executive branch officials and issuing interpretive rulings and advisory opinions on the application of ethics standards.

The Executive Branch Ethics Committee plays an important role in enforcing and interpreting our state's ethics laws. It is critical that members of the Committee be thoughtful, fair and impartial -- both in actions and in the public's perception. Under existing law, during their service, Committee members may not hold or campaign for elective office, permit their names to be used in support of or in opposition to any candidate or proposition, participate in any way in an election campaign, or make a contribution to any candidate for office, among other prohibited activities. I strongly support the requirement that Committee members refrain from partisan political activities while serving in order safeguard against conflicts of interest and to ensure that the public has full confidence that ethics standards are enforced in the executive branch irrespective of partisan politics.

SB 440 would allow members of the Executive Branch Ethics Committee during their term of service to participate actively in elections for federal offices -- President and Vice President, U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative, including allowing their names to be used in support of or in opposition to a candidate for federal office, campaigning for candidates for federal office, and by contributing to a candidate for a federal office.

I believe that SB 440 would weaken the Executive Branch Ethics Committee and would compromise the ability of its members to discharge their obligations impartially in the eyes of the public. It could create the perception that partisan politics plays a role in the decisions of the Committee.

Under SB 440, one or more Committee members could openly endorse and campaign for a candidate for federal office, or contribute to their campaign, and then be placed in the position of deciding whether or not to investigate allegations against an executive branch official who had endorsed the same, or a competing, candidate for the same federal office. In addition, an executive branch employee -- who openly supports a candidate for federal office -- might seek an advisory opinion from the Committee on the application of an ethics standard. If one or more members of the Committee are publicly supporting the same or an opposing candidate, the motivations behind the Committee's opinion could be called into question even though partisan politics played no actual role in the Committee's work.

I believe that State government has a duty to ensure that even the appearance of politics is removed from the administration of executive branch ethics standards. I will not support any changes to our ethics laws that could jeopardize the public's trust in how these laws are implemented and applied, and that is why I have vetoed this bill.

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