Last August, after five Maine Turnpike Authority employees attended a $1,342 dinner paid for by a consultant, a state department recommended the Turnpike Authority and 125 other quasi-government agencies develop codes of ethics.

Months later, a Freedom of Access Act survey shows that more than 70 percent have either adopted ethics rules or are working on them.

But 23 percent failed to respond to the query at all. And three agencies – the Disability Rights Center, Board of the Maine Children’s Trust and Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission – said they didn’t consider themselves quasi-governmental or subject to the state’s code-of-ethics recommendation.

Rebecca Wyke, commissioner of Maine’s Department of Administrative and Financial Services, called those three contentions “inaccurate” and said she’s heard similar grumblings from other agencies since she recommended in August that they create a code of ethics to guide them.

“What concerned me was this general feeling that ‘We’re not part of state government’ or ‘We’re not supported by tax dollars,'” she said after learning about the survey Tuesday.

The survey was done by The Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, a group that seeks to safeguard public access to government records and meetings. Sun Journal Managing Editor – Days Judith Meyer is the coalition’s vice president. She also coordinated the survey.

In making her recommendation in August, Wyke told the 126 quasi-governmental agencies that “Citizens of Maine have every right to expect that their government be accountable to them and that the officials they entrust to manage the affairs of government be guided by the highest standards of honor, personal integrity and fortitude in all of their activities.”

Months later, Meyer said, the “refusal of some of these groups to even respond to a request made under the public records law does not demonstrate accountability.”

The FOI survey showed that 57 agencies, or 45 percent, have a code of ethics. Of those, 68 percent adopted their ethics rules after Wyke’s recommendation to do so.

Thirty-six agencies, or 28 percent, did not have a code of ethics. But most said they were working on a draft or were considering adopting such standards.

Thirty agencies, or 23 percent, didn’t respond to the query at all.

Mal Leary, president of the Maine FOI Coalition, called that “particularly troubling.”

“The Dirigo Health Agency, the Maine Economic Growth Council, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the Criminal Law Advisory Commission are all clearly state-connected agencies that should have answered our inquiry and did not,” he said.

Three other agencies answered the FOI survey but said they weren’t a quasi-government agency and didn’t need to consider the commissioner’s recommendation that they create a code of ethics.

“For your information, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC) is not a state agency. It is a unique intergovernmental body comprised of four sovereign governments,” wrote John Dieffenbacher-Krall, executive director, in a December e-mail to Meyer. “We did receive Commissioner Wyke’s mailing last August, and it has been discussed by the commissioners. They believe that it is not applicable to the commission.”

He added that his commissioners have begun to examine the code-of-ethics issue and would likely discuss it.

Wyke said all 126 agencies, including the Tribal-State Commission, should create a code of ethics because they were created by the Legislature to serve a governmental purpose.

In addition, Wyke saw the FOI Coalition’s survey results as positive since most agencies either created ethics rules or were planning to.

“The fact of the matter is it’s not law, and they’re not required to act,” she said.

Though it could be law soon.

The governor’s administration is sponsoring a bill that would force such quasi-governmental agencies to create a code of ethics and to make it available to the public.

“We all have the obligation to hold ourselves to a high ethical standard,” said David Farmer, spokesman for the governor.

That bill was submitted to the Legislature in December. It awaits a hearing.

The code-of-ethics debate began last summer when five Turnpike Authority employees attended a lavish dinner paid for by a consultant who had a $100-an-hour contract to help refurbish turnpike rest areas. The meal, which cost $149 per person, included filet mignon, lobster and a $295 bottle of wine.

Generally, ethics prevent government workers from accepting gifts, but the Turnpike Authority had no code of ethics in place.

Since then, it has prohibited employees from accepting personal gifts from people who buy from, sell to, or are regulated by the Turnpike Authority.