特拉华州共同事业呼吁设立监察长办公室

This morning, Delaware’s elected state Auditor, Kathleen K. McGuiness was sentenced on two charges of public corruption. The charges of official misconduct and conflict of interest resulted from hiring her daughter to work for and report to her – and allowing the young woman special advantages not offered to other employees. 

McGuiness is the first statewide-elected official ever both criminally charged and convicted while in office. After her conviction in July, she refused to step down, despite widespread calls for her to do so, and the House Speaker refused to initiate an impeachment hearing. The Governor called McGuiness “unfit for office” and was expected to remove her after sentencing. However, she avoided that fate by submitting her resignation last night, effective November 4. McGuiness had intended to run for reelection, despite conviction but she cannot do so because she lost the primary.

The jury also convicted McGuiness of “structuring” state contracts to avoid public oversight, but the judge overturned its decision. She was acquitted of felony theft and felony intimidation.

特拉华州共同事业组织执行董事 Claire Snyder-Hall 声明

“Public service is about serving the interests of the common good.

For an Auditor to be convicted of official misconduct and conflict of interest is particularly egregious because it is a violation of public trust. Delaware’s Auditor is supposed to protect our taxpayer dollars from misuse, not use them to benefit her own family members. Our state officials are supposed to act in 公众利益，不是他们自己的。

特拉华人不应该怀疑我们的民选官员在做什么，或者他们正在为谁的利益服务。我们理应 相信我们的纳税人钱财得到了充分利用，相信我们的政府官员服务的是我们的利益，而不是他们自己的利益或其他私人利益。

That’s why Common Cause Delaware strongly supports the creation of an Inspector General’s office in the First State. Last spring there was bipartisan legislative support for creating an IG that is independent, non-partisan, and appointed on the basis of professional qualifications, rather than simply elected. Sadly, however, the bill was not allowed onto the House floor for a vote.  We need an IG that focuses on exposing public corruption in state agencies and state-funded entities, so that voters can be more confident that public officials are serving the public’s interests, rather than their own.

Moreover, although our state’s conflict of interest laws prohibit nepotism, it would be beneficial to amend the laws to mention that violation explicitly, so that no one can ever again claim that directly hiring and supervising one’s own family member is acceptable.”