Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther says he’s delivered on a major campaign promise. On Tuesday Ginther released new ethics policies for certain city employees by way of his first executive order.
Mayor Ginther believes the executive order will help remove the tarnished image of City Hall.
“What we know at this point is that no public officials or employees have done anything wrong. But just the appearance or concern of impropriety or inappropriate things – we wanted to go above and beyond,” Ginther says.
So the order requires certain officials to file financial disclosure reports that provide brief descriptions of any gift or gifts valued at more than 75 dollars and given under certain conditions. Ginther says those reports will be available to the public.
“We feel good about the process we’ve been following but wanted to do everything we can to protect the public’s trust,” Ginther says.
Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio calls the new regulations a good start. But she says they need to be expanded.
“We have a ways to go when it comes to better campaign finance disclosure, campaign contribution limits, all the things that help to reduce some corruption in government,” Turcer says.
The executive order took effect immediately.