Conflicts of Interest

The following appeared in a recent op-ed column in the Los Angeles Times by a young doctor, SreyRam Kuy. The issue was a health insurer asking doctors to report patient conditions that might be used to cancel health insurance. “Physicians hold a trust to protect the health of our patients. We cannot abdicate this sacred trust. ... That a person would allow me to take a scalpel and slice into his body to extirpate diseases is such an extraordinary act of trust.

There is an assumption held by people involved in government ethics that putting one’s personal interests ahead of the public interest is bad, that a healthy democracy depends on government officials working for the public interest rather than for themselves. But not everyone holds this view.

The ethics rules of the Minnesota State Senate limit conflicts of interest to instances where a bill would provide a financial benefit to a senator or his or her employer that is not shared by other similarly situated individuals or firms. This is a common standard. According to an article in today's Star Tribune, a Minnesota senator brought to the ethics committee two bills she had sponsored that some argued involved a conflict of interest.

When we talk about gifts to politicians, we often talk about gifts of nominal value being okay. Buy a politician a coffee, what’s wrong with that? But what happens when it’s the other way around? What if the politician buys a coffee for a citizen? One citizen, no problem. A few more at a fundraiser, that’s okay (and it's not buying votes, but rather buying more money). But what about thousands of citizens?

You hear it again and again: “I didn’t know. I wasn’t told.” It’s the ultimate defense. Rarely do you hear, “I didn’t know, but I should have. It’s my responsibility to know and make sure I’m told things like this. I will act as if I knew, because I should have known.” There’s nothing wrong with a conflict of interest. When you learn about one, you discuss it openly and deal with it responsibly.

The new mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, who ran as a candidate who would bring ethics to city government, is already embroiled in a controversial ethics issue. He has appointed Robert T. Grand as chair of the Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which manages the city’s convention center and sports stadiums, including that of the Indiana Pacers, a basketball team owned by the Simon family. There is a good chance that the Pacers' lease will be renegotiated next year. Grand, an attorney, represents the Simon family’s principal business, the Simon Property Group.

The most important division in ethics is between ends-based approaches (consequentialist or teleological, best known as "the ends justify the means") and rules-based approaches (deontological). The most important problem for individuals in government is that we are taught rules-based approaches while we’re growing up (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”), but in government most talk is in terms of ends (Will it raise taxes?). Today’s New York Times has a long feature about America’s comm

It is natural for a current or former firefighter to be interested in serving on a fire commission, or a current or former teacher in serving on a school board. But is there an ongoing conflict of interest in doing so? The question arose on the Milford, Connecticut school board recently. Three members are former school teachers who held union leadership positions. Click here to read the rest of this blog entry. Another school board member asked them to recuse themselves from hearing union grievances.

Taiwan has come up with the perfect way to prevent mayors from misusing government funds.

Election officials. Who in a democracy should be more above suspicion than election officials? At the place where I vote, the line that is the required number of feet from the voting area is traditionally right along the near side of the sidewalk that runs along the edge of the school parking lot.