Intimidation — The Worst Offense in Government Ethics

Updates: August 4 and 9, 2010 (see below)
I was just saying to someone the other day that the worst offenses in local government ethics do not involve money. The worst offenses in local government ethics involve intimidation, which causes people to lose their peace of mind, their reputations, and the feeling that they may participate in their local government, things no amount of money can buy. And yet it is the rare ethics complaint or arrest that primarily involves intimidation. Well, this just happened yesterday, in Palm Beach County.

The worst offenses in local government ethics, which fall under the rubric of misuse of office, include coercion of subordinates into making campaign and charitable contributions, doing work on your campaign or your house, and the like. They include coercion of subordinates into keeping quiet about unethical and illegal conduct. And worst of all, they include coercion of subordinates into committing unethical and illegal conduct themselves.

The worst offenses also include intimidation of citizens:  mistreatment at government meetings, harassment outside of meetings, the spreading of false rumors about citizens, and worst of all, enlisting others into attempts to change citizens' behavior, to ruin their reputations, and to make it in their interest to no longer be involved in local politics.

According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, a state attorney announced that charges had been brought against a Palm Beach County commissioner:  "The charges focus firmly on the defendant's conduct — both in words and deeds — and include his extortionate threats to silence opposition to a project he supported, his attempts to punish opponents of the project when they did not submit to his extortion, and his attempts to mislead the authorities when asked to account for his actions. ... The alleged conduct reflects an arrogance borne of the perceived protections of power and influence."

The arrest report contains a transcript of a message left by the commissioner on the voice mail of a man representing a family who opposed part of the commissioner's pet project. Here's an excerpt:

I want [the family] to say "We'd love to have this project." I'm going to go door to door to every tenant in their building and throw them under the fucking bus. I'm going to say they want a marina out here versus a public island. I'm going to go to the FBI who's, who's in their building. I'm going to go to the Quantum Foundation. I'm going to go to every tenant in that building. I'm going to see if I've got banking relationships with anybody there. I want this done and it's a personal thing for me.

These threats were accompanied, as usual, by the misuse of county employees. According to the arrest report, the commissioner had county staff take photographs of the storm drains on the family's property and had his own assistant contact the director of the county department of environmental resource management.

Confronted by the authorities, the commissioner denied having made threats until he was told that the authorities had a recording of his message.

The commissioner resigned before being arrested, and he appears to have admitted wrongdoing:  "I screwed up big time and I blame no one but myself. I shamed my friends, family and community. I can only pray for their forgiveness."

This is the fourth Palm Beach County commissioner to be arrested in the last four years.

I would be very surprised if the commissioner did not have a pattern of intimidation of subordinates and citizens. Such a pattern builds because its victims are afraid, and others are sadly indifferent. The indifference to intimidation that allows it to flourish is a big problem. It is responsible for a great deal of unethical conduct in local government.

For some colorful background about the commissioner, see this New Times blog post by Bob Norman.

Update: August 4, 2010
According to a Sun-Sentinel article posted an hour ago, the commissioner reached a plea deal whereby he pleaded guilty to extortion and a violation of public meeting rules, and he was given five years' probation and a fine of $11,500. This is the fastest resolution I've ever seen of a matter such as this, and the penalty, along with the disgraceful loss of his elected position, seems reasonable under the circumstances. Credit for this should go to those who turned him in, to the state attorney's office, and to the commissioner.

Credit should not go the commissioner's counsel, who is quoted in the article as saying, "The lesson to be learned here is that all of us are one bad decision away from disaster." Decisions such as the commissioner's rarely exist in isolation. The state attorney was much more on the mark with his statement, I think.

Update: August 9, 2010
A followup quote from the chair of the implementation committee for the Palm Beach County ethics program: "I'm not naïve enough to believe that merely passing a set of ordinances … solves the problem." The goal, he said, is to change the "culture" so that "this sort of behavior is not permissible." (from the Sun-Sentinel)

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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