Editorial: Gov. Pence, let’s finally fix the BMV

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this editorial reported the wrong year that former BMV official Shawn Walters signed a contract with Express MVA.

What does Indiana need to do to finally, finally operate the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in a transparent, professional and ethical manner?

We ask because it’s clearly not happening now.

The agency, one that touches the life of virtually every adult in the state, has been at the center of a string of serious controversies in recent years. The BMV has overcharged Hoosiers millions of dollars in fees for licenses and other required documents. Some top officials, as revealed by The Star, ignored and even covered-up those overcharges. In some cases, BMV executives landed their jobs based more on political connections than on professional qualifications. And overall, the agency has simply failed to operate in the transparent, professional manner that taxpayers should expect.

The latest mess, as documented by The Star’s Tony Cook on July 26, involves former Chief of Staff Shawn Walters, who took an executive position with an outside vendor after he helped the company secure a lucrative state contract.

That company, Express MVA, a relatively small outfit before it landed the BMV deal, has collected millions of dollars in “convenience fees” from Hoosiers who pay additional money to avoid going into BMV branches to conduct business such as title processing, registration and other paperwork.

In 2012, Walters signed an amended contract that significantly expanded the firm’s business with the state. Then, in 2014, he was hired as the company’s chief operating officer. He made that move without the State Ethics Commission’s normally required review.

Not only are there serious questions surrounding the timing of Walters’ employment with Express MVA, state legislators and others have objected to how much the company charges vehicle owners for its services. And it’s even questionable whether the fees were legal in the first place before state law was amended to specifically allow them this year.

Finally, this week, Gov. Mike Pence called for “greater transparency” in how and why Hoosiers are assessed the fees.

That’s fine as far as it goes. But the need for more transparency goes well beyond the “convenience fees.”

Pence, for instance, has refused to release to the public the full details of a review that Indianapolis law firm Barnes and Thornburg conducted of the BMV’s operations. The governor, who ordered the review, argues that the report is protected by attorney-client privilege.

Yet, until Hoosiers can fully review the law firm’s findings, taxpayers are being asked to simply trust that state leaders have been diligent in confronting and solving the BMV’s many problems.

But trust is hardly the first word that comes to remind in regard to the BMV. Taxpayers paid for the audit. They have a right to see what it found.

How does the state fix the beleaguered agency?

It starts with a full, transparent accounting of the problems. It requires a shared executive and legislative branch review of the potential solutions. And it demands a firm commitment from the governor and his staff that the BMV’s old ways of doing business will no longer be tolerated.