You know you're in trouble when a grand jury foreman says about you, "They need an independent organization to be an oversight ..., not just the grand jury doing it once every few years."

Of course, the "they" here are local government agencies:  five community college districts in San Diego County, whose boards of trustees are elected.

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According to an article in yesterday's San Diego Tribune [2], the grand jury recommended, among other things, that the districts establish a joint ethics committee, place a cap on campaign contributions, and institute term limits, in order to deal with what appears to be a history of ethical and possibly criminal violations.

One district's board of trustees president feels that state laws and agencies are sufficient.  Of the fourteen recommendations made by the grand jury, this board has instituted three of them, and it has a proposal before it to dismiss the other eleven. According to the article, district officials said that most of the problems identified by the grand jury can be found in other districts.  In other words, Everybody's doing it!  An excellent ethical argument.

One trustee said that an ethics committee would be "just another layer of bureaucracy." Another is concerned about the cost, even though it would be a countywide committee.

There are dozens of arguments against ethics rules and oversight. To find the principal argument in favor, all the trustees need to do is focus on their title. But it's enough that they trust themselves, isn't it?

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research, City Ethics

203-230-2548