Clear Air in Manhattan: Independence of Ethics Commissions Part 2

How can an ethics commission be truly independent?

In the model code I wrote as the beginning of what I hope will be a long public conversation about all aspects of municipal ethics, I suggest that a municipality's legislative body appoint members from a list given to them by the local League of Women Voters.

I did not mean to prefer this particular organization, but to get people thinking (and talking) about the possibility of having an independent, nonpartisan commission chosen by one or more independent, nonpartisan organizations. But is there a precedent for this anywhere in the U.S.? Try Manhattan. No, not Manhattan, Kansas. Manhattan, New York, New York.

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Under a new reform inaugurated by the new Borough President, Scott M. Stringer, members of Community Boards (neighborhood advisory panels) are now interviewed and recommended by a Community Reform Board Committee consisting of representatives from the following independent, nonpartisan organizations:

• NY League of Conservation Voters,
• League of Women Voters,
• Municipal Art Society,
• NY Public Interest Research Group,
• NYU Brennan Center for Justice,
• Citizens Union,
• Women's City Club of NY,
• Hispanic Federation,
• West Harlem Environmental Action,
• Regional Plan Association,
• Urban League,
• Partnership for NYC,
• NAACP,
• and LGBT Center.

In addition, Stringer is going around the city asking people to apply, so that the Committee will have a large pool of applicants to choose from. He has also proposed mentoring programs with Board members, to get young people involved, and he has instituted training so that Board members know what they're doing. Before, Community Board members were political appointees. Stringer still has the last say, but he says he won't use it. He didn't even veto the reappointment of a board member who had been a thorn in his side for years. Why wouldn't this work for an ethics commission? The organizations might be a bit different (the addition of the local clergy association, perhaps), but the independence and nonpartisanship could very well be the same. Are there many Stringers out there who might see their political success not in having control of who's appointed, but rather control of a process that will make people from all walks of life, other than politics, respect him or her?