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Government Ethics for Citizens
Robert Wechsler
Personal interest vs. public interest is central to government ethics. We tend to think, however, that it's central to them (officials) not to us (citizens), and that we have nothing to learn from this sort of ethics.
Well, we're wrong.
Bitterness Instead of Understanding
Robert Wechsler
No Retreat, No Surrender: One Man's Fight.' If only this were the title of a civil rights leader's memoir. But no civil rights leader would talk about 'one' man's fight; it was a group effort. Only someone who falsely sees himself as walking into a sunset alone after a gunfight would use that subtitle for his memoir.
The memoir is Tom DeLay's.
Blaming Those Who Call for Ethical Conduct - Quote of the Day
Robert Wechsler
Connecticut House Speaker James A. Amann has been receiving a great deal of criticism for asking lobbyists for contributions to the charity he works for as a paid fundraiser (including criticism from me: see my blog entry on fundraising problems).
Today's Weak Defense of Serious Conflict
Robert Wechsler
South Africa's police commissioner upon the revelation that he had met privately and repeatedly with a drug kingpin:
"Does that mean that anyone who has an appointment with him is a criminal?"
Top Ten Ethics Films
Robert Wechsler
We have been batting this around for a while, and have come up with the following list:
The Top Ten BEST ETHICS Movies of all time
1. Man for All Seasons
Paul Scofield brilliantly plays Thomas More who stands up for his principals against the ultimate difficult boss, King Henry VIIII. In the end, he dies for his faith and his principals, but he gets to become the patron saint of lawyers.
2. Gandhi
Gentle courage in the face of extreme resistance to doing the right thing.
An Intelligent Lay Discussion of Conflicts of Interest
Robert Wechsler
Here's an interesting, intelligent lay discussion about a particular alleged conflict of interest, and how to deal with local conflicts in general. It centers around an entry in a local-politics-oriented blog in Davis, California.
It Takes a Village: Behind the Indictment of Philadelphia's Vincent Fumo
Robert Wechsler
Either the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is the head of a vicious manhunt unknown since the days of J. Edgar Hoover, or Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo has not only failed to apologize for all that he has done, but he has, like so many unethical politicians before him, gone to the other extreme: denying every accusation and presenting himself as a victim.
A Good Example of a Bad Government Organizational Culture
Robert Wechsler
There's a lot of talk about organizational culture and the effect it can have on individuals' unethical conduct, but it's rare to find reported instances of poor organizational cultures that aren't extreme, such as Chicago. Even Enron had an excellent ethics program, and its misconduct appears to have been limited to high-level management.
The U.S. Department of the Interior seems to be an excellent example of a terrible organizational culture, at least according to its Inspector General, Earl E. Devaney.
Conflict of Interest or Expertise?
Robert Wechsler
One thing that's good about local government is that so much of it is done by volunteers. Volunteers aren't professional politicians. They have something better to do with their time.
Yes, most of them do.
Ethics Rules for Local Government Attorneys?
Robert Wechsler
Local government attorneys have special conflict of interest problems. Should there be ethics rules particularly aimed toward them?
Here's a recent example of a situation that could have been prevented by such rules. In Reading, Pennsylvania, a city councilman asked the city's Board of Ethics for an advisory opinion concerning the fact that the Reading Area Water Authority had contracts with a company owned by the authority's executive director.