Ethics Reform: League of Women Voters Versus Town of Greenwich

I'm always fascinated by the myriad ways in which local governments approach ethics reform. An article in the Greenwich Time last week sheds some light on the state of ethics reform in Greenwich, CT. (Disclosure: my brother lives in Greenwich, but is not politically involved, at least that I know of; and the article cites a study of local CT government ethics codes I did several years ago for Connecticut Common Cause, in which I gave Greenwich's ethics code a score of 3 out of 10, one of the lowest scores of a municipality its size.)

The local branch of the League of Women Voters is pushing for changes to the large town's ethics code. Recommended changes include giving the ethics board some teeth, requiring recusal where a conflict exists, prohibiting the use of public resources not available to the public, and other basic provisions.

One LWV member is quoted as saying, "The league feels that the best time to look at ethics is when there aren't any scandals so we can all look at them with cool heads." Amen.

More than a year after the LWV made its recommendations, nothing has been done, despite the fact that the code has hardly been touched in 45 years, in other words, since the pre-government ethics era.

But this doesn't mean that nothing is happening. The town attorney's office is "currently drafting a set of ethical standards for municipal employees that should be finished before the end of the year and will be incorporated into existing personnel policies." That is, any new standards will apply only to employees, not to officials. And they need only be approved administratively by the town's human resources director, presumably without a public hearing and without having any effect on the town's ethics code.

The chair of the town's ethics board also does not seem very sympathetic to the LWV's recommendations. He is quoted as saying, "I think some people think we should be a prosecutorial agency but there are other forums for that." Does he believe that the courts can enforce ethics codes?

The ethics board chair feels that the board's job is only to interpret the code. "It's not our job to try to change it."

It's certainly not his job to change it, but it is very common for ethics commissions to recommend changes. After all, their members should be the most experienced and best educated individuals in town with respect to local government ethics.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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