Ethics Commissions & Administration

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008).

The impersonality of the categorical imperative, which I discussed in my last blog post, is paralleled in the independence of government ethics enforcement.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? In English: Who will guard the guardians? This is a question many people ask about ethics commissions. But the question I would like to raise is, Is this the right question to ask?

The perceived independence of an ethics commission is extremely important. This perceived independence has become an issue in Frankfort (KY), according to an article in Tuesday's State-Journal.

Here are two interesting situations where it is not clear what an ethics commission's role and authority are. One in Baltimore, the other in Philadelphia.

Ethics Commission or Agency, Ethics or Personnel?

New York City has had more problems with council earmarks than Washington, D.C. (see recent blog post on D.C.), and now the city's ombudsman has come up with a different approach, an approach from outside the council, in fact, from someone with no actual jurisdiction over the council. His plan shows that ethics officers or bodies can make a difference even where they have no actual jurisdiction.

Update: March 1, 2010 (see below)

The political activity of ethics commission members, staff, and ethics officers is an important topic. The issue has arisen this week with respect to Connecticut's Office of State Ethics, according to Jon Lender's Government Watch column in yesterday's Hartford Courant.

Should ethics commission members follow ethics laws to the letter, and no further, or should they provide leadership and a role model by going beyond legalism and instead acting ethically? State EC members in New York and Georgia are telling the world by their actions and their words that only the letter of the law matters in government ethics.

Update: December 10, 2010 (see below)

It's worth a look at Philadelphia columnist Dave Davies' last column after twenty-five years on the job. It's something rarely seen in the local government ethics world: a hymn of praise to a local ethics commission, which he calls "a watchdog that isn't afraid to bite."

New York City's Conflicts of Interest Board is one of the premier ethics commissions in the U.S. One would assume that its rules and procedures would provide an example, as well as guidance, for the rest of the state. So I would like to look at ethics programs in the other largest (although not large) cities in the state, in order by population.

Buffalo