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Two Pleasant Surprises
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
Robert Wechsler
The Partisanship of Ethics
The first pleasant surprise involves a blogger (Advance Indiana) who is disgusted with his own party's unethical conduct in his city/county, Indianapolis/Marion County. A native of Illinois, he compares it to Chicago, and he notes that his party took office because of the other party's unethical conduct. In this era of partisan blogging, it is nice to see recognition by a blogger of his own party's ethical problems.
Government ethics is nonpartisan, but it is too often handled in a partisan manner. I myself have been attacked on the blogosphere for never criticizing Democrats, which would be extremely hard (and unethical) to do in a world where Democrats are in power in most of our country's larger cities.
Too many ethics complaints are brought for partisan purposes, sometimes even by party committees. Too many ethics problems (beyond campaign finance matters) are discovered at election time, and too many officials are beaten up in public over minor violations and oversights.
But the most serious problem is party members circling the wagons to defend their own. Everyone says that there are just a few rotten apples in government, but when something comes out, too many of the other apples support the rotten ones, and often turn out to know what was going on all along.
Nothing prevents unethical conduct like ethical leadership, but ethical support -- or the refusal to accept unethical conduct from one's own party -- comes a close second.
Responding to Ethics Controversies
The second pleasant surprise is the way the mayor of Leesburg (VA) reacted to a controversy involving an environmental advisory commission member's relationship with a solar company that is drafting a no-bid contract with the town. According to an article in Sunday's Washington Post, the mayor ordered all town board and commission members "to steer clear of actions that could lead to conflict-of-interest situations."
At a council meeting, the mayor said, "If you feel you have a private interest in a business and you are trying to promote that business, do not do it as a commissioner. ... Restrain yourself, recuse yourself from any discussion whatsoever involving promoting your private business when you are functioning as a council member, commissioner or board member, or task force member." " Excellent advice.
In addition, ethics training is also being expanded, and board and commission members are being told to ask a county attorney for ethics advice. This is better than sending people to a town attorney, who is more likely to be seen as biased toward a party or other political allies in town.
However, in Leesburg ethics matters are handled by the council, which seriously politicizes the ethics process. The next step for this town of 39,000 is to draft an ethics code and create an independent ethics commission. This is the best way for the mayor to show that she really means what she says.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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The first pleasant surprise involves a blogger (Advance Indiana) who is disgusted with his own party's unethical conduct in his city/county, Indianapolis/Marion County. A native of Illinois, he compares it to Chicago, and he notes that his party took office because of the other party's unethical conduct. In this era of partisan blogging, it is nice to see recognition by a blogger of his own party's ethical problems.
Government ethics is nonpartisan, but it is too often handled in a partisan manner. I myself have been attacked on the blogosphere for never criticizing Democrats, which would be extremely hard (and unethical) to do in a world where Democrats are in power in most of our country's larger cities.
Too many ethics complaints are brought for partisan purposes, sometimes even by party committees. Too many ethics problems (beyond campaign finance matters) are discovered at election time, and too many officials are beaten up in public over minor violations and oversights.
But the most serious problem is party members circling the wagons to defend their own. Everyone says that there are just a few rotten apples in government, but when something comes out, too many of the other apples support the rotten ones, and often turn out to know what was going on all along.
Nothing prevents unethical conduct like ethical leadership, but ethical support -- or the refusal to accept unethical conduct from one's own party -- comes a close second.
Responding to Ethics Controversies
The second pleasant surprise is the way the mayor of Leesburg (VA) reacted to a controversy involving an environmental advisory commission member's relationship with a solar company that is drafting a no-bid contract with the town. According to an article in Sunday's Washington Post, the mayor ordered all town board and commission members "to steer clear of actions that could lead to conflict-of-interest situations."
At a council meeting, the mayor said, "If you feel you have a private interest in a business and you are trying to promote that business, do not do it as a commissioner. ... Restrain yourself, recuse yourself from any discussion whatsoever involving promoting your private business when you are functioning as a council member, commissioner or board member, or task force member." " Excellent advice.
In addition, ethics training is also being expanded, and board and commission members are being told to ask a county attorney for ethics advice. This is better than sending people to a town attorney, who is more likely to be seen as biased toward a party or other political allies in town.
However, in Leesburg ethics matters are handled by the council, which seriously politicizes the ethics process. The next step for this town of 39,000 is to draft an ethics code and create an independent ethics commission. This is the best way for the mayor to show that she really means what she says.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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