Palm Beach County Business Coalition Gets Government Ethics
The business coalition in Palm Beach County (FL) really gets it. One
reason is that City Ethics' Carla Miller has provided advice. The
coalition consists of Leadership Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach
County Business Forum, the Palm Beach County Economic Council, and the
Voters Coalition. Its positions are best stated in <a href="http://www.lwvpbc.org/LWV_article.pdf" target="”_blank”">a short essay</a>
available at the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County site.<br>
<br>
The coalition understands that no amount of legal or institutional
reform will change the culture of a county where three former
commissioners were convicted of crimes against the people they were
supposed to serve. They realize that the culture itself needs to be
changed. The essay recognizes that "culture is created in organizations
by an agreement on a vision, mission, a set of values and senior
management’s support and reinforcement of those values."<br>
<br>
Toward that end, they developed an <a href="http://www.leadershippbc.org/ethics" target="”_blank”">Ethics Pledge</a> very loosely based on
the ancient <a href="http://www.nlc.org/about_cities/cities_101/146.aspx" target="”_blank”">Athenian Oath</a>. The goal is to have all government officials
and employees, as well as citizens, sign the pledge. I don't think
citizens need to sign something designed for public servants, but it's
good for them to be aware of it. The Pledge is a short set of basic
ethics provisions (conflict, disclosure, misuse of office) and
aspirational goals such as civility and respect, truth-telling and
promise-keeping.<br>
<br>
There's more that can be done to change a government's culture, but the
principal ingredient is ethical leadership, which has to be provided
from within. It might be useful for some business leaders to run for
the county commission, in order to provide the right sort of ethical leadership
up front, to show the way for future commissioners and other officials.<br>
<br>
The other goal of the business coalition involves ensuring an
independent enforcement mechanism. It proposes "a new and independent
countywide Commission on Ethics and Public Trust comprised of five
Commissioners .. The independence of these individuals is critical and
we have specific proposals to assure that those appointed remain free
of undue influence from the entities being overseen. The appointment
process and a sufficient budget are key issues. A primary duty would be
to accept applications, hire, supervise, and oversee a new countywide
Inspector General."<br>
<br>
Recognizing that independence is not only about appointment, the
coalition lists possible revenue sources to ensure that the EC and IG
are sufficiently funded:<br>
<br>
<ul>Potential sources of revenue to fund the initial start-up and sustain
the operations of the Commission and Inspector General could come from
a combination of potential sources (Annual lobbyist registration
fee; Residual funds of
Commissioner discretionary funds; ¼ of 1% or appropriate
surcharge on
all or certain purchases or contracts for goods or services entered
into by any covered entity; An amount certain or assessment from
general operating funds paid by each covered agency; Amounts recovered
as a result of investigations and recoveries; Charges for advisory
opinions and ethics training services; etc.)<br>
</ul>
<br>
The EC's other principal duties are three, and the emphasis is
excellent: drafting an ethics code, training and advisory
opinions, and a hotline and "other tools designed to promote ethical
conduct."<br>
<br>
What is especially surprising and welcome is the coalition's
uncompromising support of independent ethics enforcement. The coalition
threatens to take its vision of an ethics program to the people in a
referendum next year if the county commission does not support charter
changes to implement an adequate and independent ethics program.<br>
<br>
For more information on the coalition's recommendations and others'
reactions to them, see <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/sfl-corruption-palm-beach-p…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's <i>Sun-Sentinel</i></a>, a <i>Sun-Sentinel</i> <a href="http://www.economiccouncilpbc.org/index.php?src=news&refno=2237&categor…; target="”_blank”">article
from two months ago</a>, and a <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/06/02/…; target="”_blank”">Palm
Beach <i>Post</i> editorial</a> that called for what the coalition has done.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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