INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Troy Woodruff knew his family’s sale of nearly 3 acres of prime land near an Indiana highway project he oversaw as a top state transportation official would raise eyebrows. He did not disclose the sale even though the agency’s ethics director recommended he do so.
His secrecy about the land deal did not break Indiana law, the state’s top ethics watchdog said Friday after a 19-month investigation. But Inspector General David Thomas said it went “right up to the line.”
The Woodruff case is the third investigation of a high-profile state official this year. In all three cases, ethics watchdogs and good government advocates have reached the same conclusion: Indiana’s ethics law is riddled with gaps that need to be closed.
“He’s cleared of being a criminal or violating the code of ethics,” Thomas said at a news conference announcing the results of the Woodruff investigation. “But here’s the thing, and I guess it’s another takeaway – when you engage in conduct that goes right up to that line and then you dance away from the line and say it wasn’t violated, that’s ok. But this is what happens,” he said referring to the drawn out controversy.
Woodruff was aware enough of the flak he could face over the land deal that he asked for an ethical ruling and was advised to be open about it.