Ethics report

Our politicians are obsessed with state rankings and watchdog report cards, especially those that give Nevada poor grades. Those ratings are used as a bludgeon for more laws, more interventions and, inevitably, more spending.

So it’s ironic that the latest report to slap down Nevada is an evaluation of government itself — and that the path to better marks has been rejected by lawmakers time and again.

A study released Monday by the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International gave Nevada a D- grade, ranking it 42nd among the states, in transparency and risk for corruption. Nevada can take consolation in one of the findings: No state received an A.

Nevada received five F’s and six D’s among the 14 categories that contributed to the overall grade. Nevada got F’s in pension management, internal auditing, lobbying disclosure and ethics enforcement, D’s in legislative accountability and public access and, in the most merciful mark of the entire survey, a D- in budgeting processes.

The piece of legislation that would most improve Nevada’s grades across the board would be the application of the open meeting law to the Legislature itself. Lawmakers have long exempted themselves from its requirements and conducted the most important deliberations of each session in secret.

Other obvious solutions: Bills to require lobbyists to report their expenditures on lawmakers year-round, not just during biennial four-month regular sessions, and to put limits on the gifts state officials can receive. The taxpaying public also would benefit from more transparent state pension records — the benefits paid to retirees are kept secret, although that practice is being challenged in court.

“Citizens deserve an accountable and transparent government, and we will continue to work to make that happen,” state Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, said in response to the study. Plenty of lawmakers have promised as much in previous years, then delivered nothing in return.

The study is important because a republican form of democracy is supposed to put power in the hands of the people — power that erodes as less information is made available to voters and deliberations are moved into the shadows. Secrecy does indeed breed corruption. Sunshine is the disinfectant.