Oswego trustees as a committee of the whole recently directed staff to provide a link on the village’s website that will connect residents to a state website that provides information on campaign contributions in excess of $5,000 made to elected officials.
The move, an outcome of an ethics workshop held a few months ago, is intended to shed light on the practice of campaign contributions more than anything else, Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman said.
Kauffman said his preference was to keep the status quo concerning the issue but provide a link to the state’s campaign contribution reporting website for those looking for more information.
“The way to get the most amount of sunshine on any potential issues would be to provide a link on our website that will allow anyone who is interested easier access to finding out contributions of anyone,” Kauffman said. “My intent is transparency.”
Staff was directed at the ethics workshop to provide some options “pertaining to disclosure rather than regulation” of Oswego Village Board campaign contributions, Oswego Assistant Village Administrator Jean Bueche said in her report to trustees.
Bueche said “elected officials are currently governed by the village code and state statutes pertaining to ethics.”
However, the Village Board has the ability to regulate campaign contributions from all individuals, corporations, unions and political action committees, she said.
She said the Village Board can “restrict campaign contributions from those that conduct business with the village as long as the regulations are closely drawn to the prevention of corruption, and do not substantially impair one’s ability to finance a campaign.”
Such a policy would be for the purpose of “transparency to the public” and to “avoid the appearance of impropriety,” Bueche said in her report.
One option provided was to keep things the way they are and rely on existing state regulations on the issue.
A second option, which some board members appeared to support, was to keep the status quo but provide a link to the State Board of Elections website that lists campaign contributions of more than $5,000 as required by state law.
The third was to change the village code to require that campaign contributions be reported to the village clerk and posted on the village website.
No formal vote was taken on the issue.
Trustee Andrew Torres was in support of making the information more easily accessible to the public with a link to the State Board of Elections.
“More transparency is always a step in the right direction,” Torres said.
Providing the link would be sufficient, Trustee Jennifer Jones Sinnott said.
“I think the controls are in place from the state. I don’t think staff has to endure an extra burden and take time away from other things,” Sinnott said.
Trustee Tom Guist supported putting the state link on the village website. However, he questioned whether there would be many clicks on the site.
“I personally don’t think we need to give staff anything more to do on something that has been going on this way for years and years,” Guist said. “Everyone agrees there has never been any impropriety of any kind. This feels to me like governing something that wasn’t broken. Everyone admits nothing has happened. We’re just making more work for staff.”
He suggested placing the link on the village website and in addition a counter to gauge its use.
“It probably won’t get clicked on more than a few times a year,” he said.
Trustee Karin McCarthy-Lange supported the third option of changing the village code to require that campaign contributions be reported to the village clerk and posted on the village website.
“It’s to make sure there are no improprieties,” McCarthy-Lange said.
“I am not saying anything illegal happened. I am saying it is not proper to take money from people doing development in our community … it’s unethical,” McCarthy-Lange said.
Providing the link to the state website does not require any further action from the board, Kauffman said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
