Government Ethics Specialists Need Not Apply

I just received an e-mail announcing a search for a new editor of the journal Public Integrity, the only academic journal in the field in which I work. Here is the description of the journal by its publisher on the journal's webpage:

Governance is changing rapidly, and change brings compelling ethical challenges. Sponsored by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), International City/County Management Association (ICMA), Council of State Governments (CSG), and the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), Public Integrity is the foremost journal on ethics and leadership in all aspects of modern public service. Written for both scholars and practitioners as well as concerned citizens, its driving force is the notion of integrity that is so basic a part of democratic life. The journal features refereed articles, case studies, exemplar profiles, field reports, commentaries, and book reviews on a broad spectrum of ethical concerns in local, state, national, and international affairs.

Here are the qualifications for this position, according to the announcement:

Applicants should be ASPA members who have made substantial contributions to the field of leadership ethics.

Few members of two of the organizations that co-sponsor the publication with the ASPA are ASPA members. Few members of COGEL, which focuses on the administration of government ethics programs and which is the only one of these organizations that I have been a member of, even know what "leadership ethics" is. (According to the current editor of the journal, the focus is on the ethics of policy choices and organizational outcomes.)

The CSG is focused on leadership, but appears to provide little in the way of resources about ethics.

Of the three, members of the ICMA are the ones most likely to be ASPA members too. The ICMA does provide resources and advice about ethics, but it mostly involves its own ethics code, which applies only to local administrators, not to elected or appointed officials, attorneys, and consultants, not to mention contractors and grantees, who have the most conflicts of interest issues to deal with.

In short, by so limiting who may apply for the job of editor, Public Integrity's board appears to want to keep the journal limited to a field of "ethics" that does not include government ethics programs. Governance may be changing, as the journal's description states, but the journal does not appear willing to open itself to the possibility of change, as well.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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