Indy councilors consider more accessible and expansive financial disclosures

Do you know what your city representative does for a living?

Indianapolis City-County Council President Vop Osili is a program director for the architecture firm Woolpert. Vice President Ali Brown works at the Propylaeum Historic Foundation. Majority Leader Maggie Lewis is the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Indianapolis. Minority Leader Brian Mowery works for KeyBank.

For now, required forms disclosing councilor workplaces, board memberships and potential conflicts of interest are only available through a records request to the council office. If the full City-County Council approves a pending proposal, councilors would fill out a more extensive version of these documents to be posted online annually by the council clerk.

A bipartisan proposal from Republican Josh Bain and Democrat Jessica McCormick also would expand the current form, requiring councilors to disclose the amount of money their workplace has received from city-county government to the nearest $5,000 increment. The proposal would not require councilors to include amounts below $5,000.

The disclosures would be required for money received directly through contracts between an employer and the city or through more indirect means. For instance, disclosure of an employer’s tax abatement or other economic development incentives also would be required.

The proposal would also require that councilors list any stock they own in entities that are doing business with the city.  

Currently, the form requires councilors to report their own workplace, as well as those of their spouse and children. Additionally, the form asks that councilors report whether they or these family members serve on boards, work for, or own more than a 10% stake in companies that do business with the city. They also must list gifts over $100 or totaling over $250 that are unrelated to a campaign.

The proposal for more in-depth, publicly-available disclosure forms passed unanimously out of the Council Ethics Committee on Wednesday. Most councilors applauded the proposal as a way to increase transparency for constituents.

“It is important that as we are doing the work of the citizens and the residents of Indianapolis and Marion County, that we also hold ourselves responsible,” Democratic Councilor Carlos Perkins said. “And this is an opportunity for us to do so.”

Democratic Councilor Frank Mascari voted in favor of the proposal, despite stating concerns that it may go too far.

“Until the state and federal agencies do something about their disclosures, I don’t see a need for us to change ours,” Mascari told IBJ. He said higher-powered, wealthier representatives don’t face as high of a standard of scrutiny.

At the Aug. 8 meeting of the committee, Mascari called the need to list stocks “stupid.”

Bain said Wednesday that there are examples where individuals could theoretically abuse their elected position to profit on stocks. He gave the theoretical scenario that a councilor working on a project where a public company is partnering with the city could choose to invest knowing the stock will boom.

“We want to make sure that it’s something that would be discouraged,” he told the committee.

Ethics forms require both federal and state lawmakers to report stocks in some manner. For example, Indiana legislators report stock options with a fair market value of over $5,000.

Employers of councilors would also play a role in providing information. When exact fund amounts aren’t available, the council ethics committee would accept a contract or other details from the employer. Councilors would also be required to report the starting date of their employment.

Bain told the council ethics committee that the proposal aims to “make Indianapolis one of—if not the most—transparent councils in the country.”

The full council will consider the measure on Monday. The proposal would require the new forms to be posted on the indy.gov web site by March 1 each year.