When it comes to questions of government transparency and ethics, the answers typically are exceedingly simple. Because of that, a flap surrounding Pierce County and state lawmakers and the upcoming U.S. Open golf championship near Tacoma amounts to a head-scratching bogey for all concerned.
With one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events set for next week at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, officials have pulled the public relations equivalent of driving a golf cart across the green. Pierce County representatives invited 45 legislators to attend one day of the tournament free of charge as their guests.
The tickets have a face value of $110, which exceeds the typical limit of a $50 gift that lawmakers are allowed to accept. But the state Legislative Ethics Board ruled that the gift is permissible because lawmakers are scheduled to attend a three-hour presentation from the county highlighting the benefits of bringing a world-class event to Pierce County. “We promise it’s going to be an actual presentation,” Pierce County spokesman Hunter George said. “We’d like (lawmakers) to see this is what your support did.” That support includes about $750,000 the Legislature has pledged to help cover the county’s security costs for hosting the event.
That is taxpayer money we’re discussing, and that is where the issue gets about as murky as an algae-covered water hazard. County officials have declined to allow the media to attend the presentation, with George saying, “This is like a Super Bowl. You don’t have all-access.” Journalists, who are the conduit between lawmakers and taxpayers, should be represented at the county’s presentation in order to report just how hard those lawmakers are “working.” County officials have said they will release the Power Point presentation to the public after the fact, but that does little to assuage the doubts. As Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, told The (Tacoma) News Tribune, access to the presentation won’t tell the public “whether they’re having a cocktail party and there’s this slideshow being ignored off in the corner.”