Safra Working Papers

This is the place to comment on, discuss, and share alternative content and language relating to the declarations of policy that can usually be found at the beginnning of municipal ethics codes. Most declarations are very short and often ignored, since they cannot be enforced. But they are important in showing the community why ethical conduct is more important than just being good and fair.

I'd like to follow up on what I said at the end of yesterday's blog entry, about jurisdictions that make ethics violations criminal and require a showing of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and a showing of intentionality or recklessness or negligence. Here is the penalty provision in the Arizona Conduct of Office chapter, which applies equally to local governments (to see the entire chapter, click here and scroll down to Chapter 3):

Following Mark Davies, I have placed definitions not at the front of the Code, where they usually appear, but at the end of the Ethics Provisions section. The reasoning behind this choice is that definitions should not be as important as they often are. Often, definitions include significant content, so that officials and employees must read the definitions before they can know what they are required to do. It is better to have officials focus on the plain meaning of ethics provisions, knowing that no extra duties will be imposed in the definitions, that there are no traps hidden there.