JAY NIXON OUTLINES TIGHTER RULES FOR GAMBLING OVERSIGHT: PROHIBITING POTENTIAL OF CONFLICT AND CORRUPTION

With legalized gambling coming to Missouri, state Attorney General Jay Nixon is on the right track in his plan to get laws passed that would provide safeguards against conflicts of interests and undesirable investments and involvement in gambling companies by people in law-enforcement, governmental and regulatory positions.

In Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Nixon outlined plans for statutory changes to ward off such problems before they have a chance to occur. He's talked with people in other states that have experienced such problems and don't have the laws on the books to prevent them. Nixon said he wants Missouri to embark upon gambling "in clean fashion."

Specifically, the attorney general wants to prevent elected and appointed officials from obtaining ownership interests in gambling, establish penalties for officials who violate those ownership laws, prevent anyone in a government or regulatory position from accepting employment with gambling companies for two years after leaving their position, prevent police officers and other law enforcement officials from working a second job with gambling companies, and outlaw the use of confidential information for gambling stock manipulations. Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin is sponsor of a bill that would enact many of the laws Nixon wants on the books.

The state already witnessed a potential conflict of interest when it was disclosed this year that four members of the St. Louis Election Board had interests in gambling companies. The four resigned from the board at the urging of Gov. Mel Carnahan.

Regardless of whether the board members' interests in the gambling companies posed conflicts, the potential for conflicts certainly was there. Prohibiting the potential for corruption by enacting the laws being proposed should assure that unlike some other states Missouri will not be saddled with conflicts and corruption surrounding gambling operations.