Misuse of Government Website Bios for Business Purposes

While researching my last blog post, I visited the webpage of Tallahassee mayor John Marks, and was thrown for a bit of a loop. The first two paragraphs of his bio look more like an advertisement for his law firm than the bio of a mayor:

John Marks, Mayor of the City of Tallahassee, practices law with his son at Marks and Marks, LLC.  The firm focuses its practice on utility regulation, telecommunications and Internet law.   Appointed by Governor Bob Graham in 1979, he served eight (8) years on the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC); the last two as its Chairman.  Before serving on the FPSC, he was employed as a Hearing Officer with the Commission.  He has been an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law teaching utility regulatory law and a faculty member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ utility rate school.

He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court and is a member of the American, National, Florida and Tallahassee Bar and the Tallahassee Barristers Associations. He is also a member of the American Law Institute, the ABA's Public Utilities Law Section and the Florida Bar's Local Government and Administrative Law Sections.  He is past chairman of the Florida Bar's Public Utilities Law and the Equal Opportunities in the Profession Committees.  He was named Florida Super Lawyer (Utility Regulatory Law) by Florida Super Lawyers magazine for the years 2006 and 2007.  Mayor Marks was inducted into the FAMU College of Education Gallery of Distinction and named one of Florida State University’s 100 Distinguished Graduates.

When a government official has a job or business on the side, he has to be careful how he presents it, or whether he presents it at all, on his government's website. What an official does on the side has little or no relevance to his public position. Since a mayor does not practice law for the city, it doesn't matter what kind of law he practices, whom he practices with (or has practiced with or taught for), where he is admitted to practice, or what professional awards he has received. This information (and later information about where his son has been educated) can only be helpful in convincing people to hire his firm.

I believe that, when an official has a job or business on the side, information about this job or business, or the official's professional qualifications, should be left out of the official's government website bio. It is a misuse of public office and public resources for the benefit of one's business (and, in this case, one's son's business). Officials who are also professionals should think of their profession as a business, not as a qualification for office, and consider how it would look if a mayor were, for example, to begin his bio like this:

John Marks is the owner of Marks Barks, the best place to leave your dog for grooming and to play with other dogs. Marks Barks has been named the state's best grooming and canine daycare by Florida Magazine, and Mayor Marks has been named Super Groomer by Dog Fancy magazine three years in a row. He has taught grooming at the Florida School of Grooming and has been the chair of three Florida Canine Association committees.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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