The President of City Ethics, Carla Miller, recently participated in the 2007 NGES Advisory Group in the review of the Ethics Resource Center's first National Government Ethics Study which was released Jan. 30, 2008. You can download a copy by registering at the ERC's website: http://www.ethics.org/

From the Executive Summary:

Public Trust is at Risk

• Rates of misconduct in government are already high — nearly 60 percent of government employees see misconduct.
• At present, 30 percent of misconduct across government goes unreported to management.

The problem is Likely to get Worse

• One in four government employees works in an environment conducive to misconduct. Misconduct will continue to rise unless immediate action is taken.

Solutions Exist

• Well-implemented ethics and compliance programs double reporting and lower the rate of misconduct.
• A strong agency-wide ethical culture also increases reporting and cuts misconduct in half.
• Coupling a strong ethical culture with a strong ethics and compliance program is the path to the greatest reduction in ethics risk.

Now is the Time For government Leaders to Raise the priority of Ethics

• Government leaders can make a meaningful, quantifiable difference. Ethics risk can be reduced and public trust can be secured.