Ethics Codes & Reform

Do expertise and conflicts go together more like love and marriage, or like horse and carriage? In other words, are they necessary or are they outdated in this age of government ethics?

Almost two years ago, I wrote about the self-serving nature of attempts at ethics reform in the village of Niles, outside Chicago. A lot has happened since then, but in terms of an ethics program, not much.

A week ago, Transparency International published its fifteenth annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which scores countries on the basis of a variety of independent reports on and surveys about corruption, including those from the World Bank and other development banks, and those surveying journalists, business executives, and international organization staff.

More election-related news. Here are two arguments against an amendment to the Utah constitution that, if approved by voters on November 2, would establish a partially independent legislative ethics commission. The arguments are made in an official ballot issue publication of the state of Utah.

Meredith McGehee wrote a thought-provoking Campaign Legal Center blog post yesterday about the upside of election time ethics attacks on opponents.

"Current political thinking generally laments this development, arguing that it cheapens the process and puts all politicians in a bad light." But she sees it as a good development. I don't agree.

Does the Prospect of Attacks Cause Politicians to Better Police Themselves?

The term "situational ethics" derives from a particular theory of a priest named Joseph Fletcher, but it is more generally understood to mean dealing with ethics in terms of a particular situation and particular goals (ends-oriented ethics). In other words, it is ethics that allows for different rules in different circumstances, but also for self-serving, sometimes hypocritical, ethical statements and actions.

Most people define "ethics" in a way that doesn't really fit into the scheme of government ethics, which focuses on conflicts of interest. Even the definitions section of this website defines "ethics" as "a major branch of philosophy that involves analysis of right conduct."

Four current attempts at ethics reform show the incredible variety of approaches and ideas of what government ethics is.

Prohibiting County Employees from Contracting with the County

The Missouri Ethics Commission has put up a nice slideshow-with-audio presentation on the many changes made to its ethics and campaign finance laws in Senate Bill 844 (it used Adobe Presenter software, but there are likely other alternatives). It's a good way to do reform-specific training.

I've been writing a lot about the controversies surrounding a new Broward County (FL) ethics code, but there's also been controversy in the Broward County School District that is likely to lead to an ethics code of its own (according to a Miami Herald editorial on Saturday, a former school board member pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges this year, and another member revealed that her husband works for a firm that frequently lobbies the school board).