making local government more ethical

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Robert Wechsler

On November 15, 2006, David Damron of the Orlando Sentinel reported on Lawson Lamar, the local state attorney's call for "sweeping new ethics laws he said would limit the influence of developers and other special interests on city and county governments. In a Nov. 2 letter to city and county leaders in Orange and Osceola [counties], Lamar urged them to pass new laws that would dramatically limit campaign...

Robert Wechsler

Open Letter to Illinois Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas:

The news media are probably the most important single element in providing oversight in government ethics matters. And the most effective way to keep the news media from doing their job is to file a libel suit.

The New York Times ran an excellent article yesterday by Katharine Q. Seelye, which focused on a libel suit you brought against a...

William (Bill) Maxwell is a commissioned officer (order in council appointment) at the rank of Inspector in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and, with thirty-three years service, retired from the Force in May 2004. He has been awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, the Long Service Medal of the RCMP and the Queen's Jubilee Medal.

Inspector Maxwell joined the RCMP in Halifax, Nova Scotia in February, 1971 and served in various federal policing roles in the Greater Toronto area (general investigation, immigration and passport and commercial crime (fraudulent bankruptcies). He was stationed at Headquarters, Ottawa for the latter half of his career and for the last ten years was involved in various change projects within the RCMP.

He was coordinator in the amalgamation of two of the larger directorates at RCMP National Headquarters. He was subsequently part of the "Project Renewal" Team which managed the mandated budget cuts under the Federal Government's Program Review 1 & 2.

Inspector Maxwell was the national coordinator for the Shared Leadership Vision exercise to develop the Mission, Vision and Values of the RCMP.

With the establishment of the Office of Ethics & Integrity, he assumed the position of Associate Ethics Advisor. In December 2001, he was appointed Integrity Programs Officer.

Inspector Maxwell is married and he and his family live in Kanata (Ottawa) Ontario.

He is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ethics Practitioners of Canada (EPAC), a member of the Ethics & Compliance Officers Association (ECOA) as well as the Ombudsman Association. He was an active participant in the planning & organizing of the International Institute of Public Ethics (IIPE) Year 2000 Conference which was held in Ottawa with over 400 in attendance from around the world. He is also a fellow of the IIPE and a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Inspector Maxwell has a valid BBB-BBB language profile. He also has TOP SECRET Security Clearance (RCMP), valid until 2008.

CURRENT WORK EXPERIENCE:

Integrity Programs Officer (December 2001 - retired May 2004)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
Office of Ethics & Integrity
1200 Vanier Parkway,
Ottawa, K1A OR2

  • secretariat support for the Ethics Council chaired by the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Deputy Commissioner, Operations
  • operationalization of the Mission, Vision and Values of the RCMP
  • champion of Best Practices Directory and facilitation of ethics & values training
  • executive support for the Ethics & Integrity Advisor including representation on various committees (International Association of Chiefs of Police) (IACP) and the International Institute of Public Ethics (IIPE) based in Brisbane, Australia.
  • presentations at various forums on ethics & values and liaison with other police organizations both in Canada, the United States and internationally including attendance at various conferences on ethics & integrity awareness (anti-corruption) in Australia, the Netherlands and in the Czech Republic.

July 2004 to Present:

  • Ethics Officer for the Conference Board of Canada (Internal)-interpretation of the Code of Ethics, employee education and interventions as required.
  • Participation in the Health Services Renewal Initiative of the RCMP as a strategic analyst in the review of the Health Services & Occupational Health & Safety programs
  • Chair of the Ethics Practitioners Association of Canada
  • Member of the Ethics Committee, Canadian Association, Chiefs of Police (CACP)
  • National Secretary, RCMP Veterans Association

References available upon request.

Robert Wechsler

The New York Times has been running a series of articles about municipal pension funds (by Mary Williams Walsh, Michael Cooper, and Danny Hakim, August 20, 22, 27, September 1, 4, 2006). The articles focus on two principal problems: (1) pensions have been increased, largely in order to get short-term cuts in negotiations with unions, and (2) calculations to determine the health of pension plans usually have little relationship to reality. Each problem is essentially an ethical problem...

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