WASHINGTON, D.C. July 19, 2007 — The state of Washington was the only state to receive an "A" for disclosure laws for its governors, while Idaho, Michigan, Utah and Vermont scored a "0," according to a six-month Center for Public Integrity survey ranking and comparing the personal financial disclosure requirements for the nation's 50 governors.

The Center’s “States of Disclosure” project, which offers a state-by-state “document warehouse” of the financial disclosure forms filed by members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, also found that tracking the private interests of governors — the most powerful and influential of public state officials — is not always straightforward, simple or consistent.

While some states, such as Louisiana and Indiana, required more disclosure for governors than for legislators, the Center found that 21 states failed to make available basic information about the private financial interests of their governors. This considerable gap is most evident when comparisons are made to the state of Washington, which provides the most complete public information on its governor’s personal income, and Idaho, Michigan, Utah and Vermont, which do not require their governors to file financial disclosure reports at all.

“As the top elected officials in each state, governors sign legislation into law, recommend and approve state budgets, and have wide-ranging powers to appoint department and agency heads and fill board and commission positions,” said States Projects Director Leah Rush. “Requiring them to disclose their private financial ties could reveal possible conflicts of interest.”

For the first time, the Center also studied financial disclosure laws for state Supreme Court judges, and found 47 states have varying types of financial disclosure rules, all require judges to report non-judicial earned income and 39 ask judges to report any officer or director positions they hold. Idaho, Montana and Utah do not require judges to disclose private financial interests.

The Center’s survey evaluated each state’s financial disclosure laws for governors with a 43-question survey totaling 100 points. The survey examined what basic information is made publicly available about a governor’s outside employment, income, investments, inheritance and family income, real estate holdings, directorships and whether the state imposes penalties for violations.

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