Partying On As Leader of the PAC
Thelma Drake sees no problem in her dual role. She should.
The director of Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation should not also head a political action committee that gets contributions from railroads.
That should be self-evident.
Yet Director Thelma Drake also is head of the Tusk and Trunk Club, a Republican political action committee, and will be playing host to its annual Party on the Pier, a political fundraiser — just as she has done for years as an elected official.
The fact that Norfolk Southern donated $1,000 to the PAC earlier this year presents no conflict, she told The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot. Drake can say this with a straight face because Virginia’s rules governing the political activities of state policymakers are so lax, it’s hard to say with any certainty when an official has stepped out of bounds.
Officials in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration told the newspaper that staffers are barred from seeking or accepting campaign contributions from companies that do business with government agencies connected to their work.
As head of a department that, in part, “supports both passenger and freight rail in Virginia through funding and advocacy for rail improvements,” according to the DRPT Rail Division’s web page, Drake should be keeping at arm’s length from political contributions from rail interests.
If she’s worried about creating a perception of a conflict of interest, though, she didn’t show it when the newspaper questioned her role as head of the PAC. The NS contribution represents no conflict, she assured a reporter.
Neither the McDonnell administration nor the public should be so easily reassured.
In the absence of clear rules regarding conflicts of interest, state workers have a lot of leeway to exercise their own judgment.
When they go to work for the state, any political work they want to do must be done as a private citizen, disconnected from their official duties. McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin told the newspaper that employees understand “you have to keep those two functions separate.”
Maybe not every employee. Drake isn’t overly bothered about setting boundaries.
Such a lax attitude is not a phenomenon of the McDonnell administration. Political science professor Mark Rozell noted, “There are conflicts of interest all over the place that go on for various reasons because this state has chosen to have a loose, unregulated system.”
It works well for those who make the rules.
Recent Comments
