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Atlanta Ethics Report a Model for Other Local Governments
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Robert Wechsler
Happy Fifth Birthday, Atlanta Ethics Office! The Ethics Office has
celebrated its birthday with a
40-page report on its first five years of existence. It is well
worth looking at.
The report is entitled Ethics Is the Only Deal, from something Mayor Shirley Franklin said: “Ethics is a big deal. . . . [I]t is the only deal. . . . We cannot accomplish anything, not economic development, not clean water or better sewers if we lose the public trust.”
The report looks at the office's major achievements, and then goes through its various responsibilities in just the right order: ethics training, public education, advice, disclosure, and enforcement (the enforcement section is smartly titled "Accountability Through Enforcement").
But this report is not only a model in its organization, design, and use of visuals and ethics "vignettes." It is also a call for improvements. Right up front, the Executive Summary looks forward more than it looks back, calling for "every city official, whether elected or volunteer, and every employee, from the chief operating officer to the building inspector, to incorporate ethical considerations into their operational decisions." This should be the goal of every ethics program, but this forest is often ignored in the war over each of a program's many trees. The Executive Summary goes on to make more specific recommendations, and then the report ends with a more detailed version of these same recommendations.
This is what a report should be: a look back in order to move forward. Ethics commissions should not be shy in making recommendations for change. They know better than anyone what needs to be done to reach their goals. And they can try to move the program forward even when there isn't a scandal forcing elected officials' hands.
Also worth a look is a 2007 report on the first year of Atlanta's Integrity Line, a hotline for ethics complaints. And visit the Atlanta Board of Ethics website to see other publications, including newsletters and some good ethics guidelines for different audiences.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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The report is entitled Ethics Is the Only Deal, from something Mayor Shirley Franklin said: “Ethics is a big deal. . . . [I]t is the only deal. . . . We cannot accomplish anything, not economic development, not clean water or better sewers if we lose the public trust.”
The report looks at the office's major achievements, and then goes through its various responsibilities in just the right order: ethics training, public education, advice, disclosure, and enforcement (the enforcement section is smartly titled "Accountability Through Enforcement").
But this report is not only a model in its organization, design, and use of visuals and ethics "vignettes." It is also a call for improvements. Right up front, the Executive Summary looks forward more than it looks back, calling for "every city official, whether elected or volunteer, and every employee, from the chief operating officer to the building inspector, to incorporate ethical considerations into their operational decisions." This should be the goal of every ethics program, but this forest is often ignored in the war over each of a program's many trees. The Executive Summary goes on to make more specific recommendations, and then the report ends with a more detailed version of these same recommendations.
This is what a report should be: a look back in order to move forward. Ethics commissions should not be shy in making recommendations for change. They know better than anyone what needs to be done to reach their goals. And they can try to move the program forward even when there isn't a scandal forcing elected officials' hands.
Also worth a look is a 2007 report on the first year of Atlanta's Integrity Line, a hotline for ethics complaints. And visit the Atlanta Board of Ethics website to see other publications, including newsletters and some good ethics guidelines for different audiences.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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