Lessons to share from ethics reform in Winter Park

In this article published in the Orlando Sentinel, the "Consultant" referred to was Carla Miller, of CityEthics, in a workshop presented in the spring of 2007.

From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/orl-ethics1707dec17,0,...

Richard Foglesong | Special To The Sentinel   (Orlando)

December 17, 2007

Winter Park recently adopted an ethics-reform package, becoming the first local government to accept the challenge posed by Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar in 2006. In a series of public statements, Lamar complained that pressure from the development community had undermined the integrity of local government, urging corrective action.

Last week, Winter Park commissioners accepted the recommendations of an ethics task force on which I served. The reforms approved are modest. Essentially, they initiate a process -- authorizing the appointment of an ethics board that, in turn, will consider the adoption of conflict-of-interest provisions, lobbyist regulations, and campaign-finance restrictions.

Following that, the ethics board will investigate alleged ethical violations and make referrals to the Florida Commission on Ethics in Tallahassee. Equally important, Winter Park commissioners adopted an ethics mission statement and agreed to appoint an ethics officer, charged with educating commissioners, board appointees, lobbyists and vendors on ethical behavior in government.

These reforms parallel -- up to a point -- those proposed by a similar task force appointed by Orange County commissioners. Their report goes much further, however, calling for campaign-finance reforms, among other things. Perhaps other area governments, including the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, will follow Winter Park's lead in this area. What are the lessons if they do?

First, they should not begin by identifying every imaginable ethical violation and writing a law against it. Rather, they should take an educational approach, adopting an ethics mission statement that is value-based rather than punitive, saying what public officials should do instead of what they should avoid.

As a consultant told our task force in Winter Park, three types of people occupy local office: the incorruptible, the corrupt and the corruptible. The first we don't need to worry about. The second are prosecutors' worry. Only the third -- the corruptible -- should concern ethics advocates.

Second, make sure to extend ethical training and oversight to appointed board members, as well as vendors, lobbyists and those seeking favorable development regulations. Unethical behavior on their part -- not the venality of local officials -- is probably the starting point for most government corruption.

Focusing the ethical spotlight on these favor-seekers, rather than on elected officials, will also help win votes for ethics reform, as we discovered in Winter Park. Proposing new rules for officeholders, and then asking for their vote, is like asking them to confess being out of control, hardly a good strategy.

Third and related, do not begin by attacking hot-button issues like campaign-finance reform. We learned this the hard way in Winter Park. Our modest proposal in this area, submitted late last year, failed for lack of a second.

In contrast, Orange County's task force wants new disclosure rules for political contributions from limited-liability corporations, as well as a moratorium on fundraising in the last week of a campaign. Both ideas would make fundraising more transparent to voters.

I like both proposals. The question is whether they are needed -- now -- to achieve ethics reform. In Winter Park, we pursued a more surefooted approach, recognizing that ethics reform is a process that, once begun, generates its own steam. In Jacksonville, a leader in ethics reform, it took seven years to get meaningful results.

I'm betting that Winter Park, having authorized the appointment of an ethics board, will eventually adopt new campaign-finance restrictions, probably before Orange County does.



Richard Foglesong is the George and Harriet Cornell Professor of Politics at Rollins College.