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Alert: Government Ethics Will Not Make Politicians Honest
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Robert Wechsler
According to an
article
in the Providence Journal, a Rhode Island state senator has been indicted on
federal charges that he falsified documents to get mortgages and an
auto loan worth more than $1.5 million. This same senator sponsored an
unsuccessful resolution to let the legislature regulate its own ethics.
The legislature failed to pass a resolution to let the people of Rhode
Island decide whether to let the state ethics commission have full
jurisdiction over legislators, so effectively they do regulate their
own ethics.
After the indictment, Common Cause is calling for the legislature to reconvene and allow a referendum on this issue.
There is a confusion here. The state senator has been alleged to have acted unethically, but his alleged conduct has nothing to do with his government office. The ethics commission would not have any jurisdiction over this matter.
The indictment certainly fuels the view that politicians are untrustworthy but, for the purposes of government ethics, it is important to separate what they do in their private lives and what they do as public servants. A government official convicted of bank fraud certainly must leave office, and it would be hard to ever trust him in a position of responsibility. But government ethics does not involve bank fraud or homicide or having affairs.
Acting as if these sorts of unethical conduct have something to do with government ethics confuses the public's idea of what government ethics is. It raises their expectation that an ethics commission can somehow make politicians honest. It makes them think that government ethics is not about conflicts of interest, but rather about being an ethical individual, honest, good to one's spouse and children, in every way trustworthy. But it doesn't work like that.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
After the indictment, Common Cause is calling for the legislature to reconvene and allow a referendum on this issue.
There is a confusion here. The state senator has been alleged to have acted unethically, but his alleged conduct has nothing to do with his government office. The ethics commission would not have any jurisdiction over this matter.
The indictment certainly fuels the view that politicians are untrustworthy but, for the purposes of government ethics, it is important to separate what they do in their private lives and what they do as public servants. A government official convicted of bank fraud certainly must leave office, and it would be hard to ever trust him in a position of responsibility. But government ethics does not involve bank fraud or homicide or having affairs.
Acting as if these sorts of unethical conduct have something to do with government ethics confuses the public's idea of what government ethics is. It raises their expectation that an ethics commission can somehow make politicians honest. It makes them think that government ethics is not about conflicts of interest, but rather about being an ethical individual, honest, good to one's spouse and children, in every way trustworthy. But it doesn't work like that.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
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