Let the Lieutenant Deal with Conflicts of Interest

The controversy surrounding Arnold Schwarzenegger's recently terminated employment with two bodybuilding magazines has raised new questions about California's ethics rules. While the laws aimed at minimizing conflicts of interest among elected officials could use an update, both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor could take their own steps to help strengthen the government's integrity under existing law.

Most of us would be content to have either a job that paid us more than a million bucks a year or one running a state that represents the sixth largest economy in the world. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted both simultaneously. A tabloid publishing company, American Media, recently revealed that it was paying Arnold Schwarzenegger $5 to 8 million over five years to serve as a consultant for two fitness magazines. Arnold's spokespeople said it didn't take much of his time, just a few hours on weekends and evenings. Nice work if you can get it.

Arnold has since stopped taking paychecks from the publishers, although he will continue to write columns for the magazines. That's fine, since the time he was devoting to his writing career was never the real problem.

Nor was the problem, as some have alleged, that the National Enquirer pulled stories about Arnold's extracurricular love life in return for the Governor's help with the body building magazines, which are also owned by the Enquirer's parent company. This revelation weakens the Enquirer's reputation as a serious source of news journalism, but anyone who was counting on the tabloids for thorough and honest reporting deserves whatever they get.

The real issue at stake is that no one can serve two masters. Either Arnold is working for American Media, and is accountable to them, or he works for the people of California.
In most of his responsibilities as Governor, there was no conflict between his two jobs, but at least one issue did arise where the public interest may have been counter to Arnold's private interest.

As Governor, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have regulated dietary supplements used by bodybuilders. The manufacturers of these supplements are major advertisers in the magazines that Arnold consulted to, and which paid him 1% of their advertising revenues. So, it's quite likely that regulations that hurt the dietary supplement industry would have lead to a direct reduction in Arnold Schwarzenegger's bottom line.

State Senator Jackie Speier, who authored the dietary supplement bill, is now calling for legislation that would prevent statewide officeholders from holding second jobs. That may be a good place to start, but Arnold and other future governors have many sources of income other than employment ranging from ownership in property, businesses, or even movie royalties. So, dealing with jobs only gets at part of the problem.

Unless we want governors with absolutely no private sector experience or ties, it's not practical to require them to forgo all sources of private income. Rather, government officials should recuse themselves whenever a decision impacts their private interests.

California ethics rules already requires recusal in cases of conflict of interest, but exempts officeholders when their action is required by law. Since all bills need to be signed by the Governor, the current rule is toothless in regards to all legislation that reaches the governor's desk.

However, Governor Schwarzenegger and future governors could remove themselves from signing or vetoing any legislation where they had a personal conflict of interest by delegating these decisions to the Lieutenant Governor. The California Constitution already authorizes the Lieutenant Governor to sign or veto legislation when the Governor is outside of the state.

Since Arnold is spending a lot of time these days visiting other states to raise huge contributions for his ballot campaigns, there are plenty of days where Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamonte could serve California by signing or vetoing legislation where Arnold has a personal conflict. Given how little else the Lieutenant Governor actually does, this role would provide some real meaning to the office and let voters know that legislative decisions are being made without the taint of self-interest.