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Palm Beach County Ethics Program Has Passed
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Robert Wechsler
After many months of deliberation (and a
blog post), yesterday the Palm Beach Board of County Commissioners
passed three ordinances, establishing a new ethics and
lobbying code, ethics
commission, and inspector
general.
The most interesting thing about this response to numerous political scandals in the county is that, as in Miami-Dade County, it is intended to cover cities and towns within the county that want to participate in the ethics program. However, the extended jurisdiction of the inspector general must be approved by voters in November 2010, according to a Sun-Sentinel article yesterday.
The ethics code is good, although its range of provisions is narrow. The gift provision prohibits only gifts over $100 (not aggregated) from lobbyists and their employers, requiring only disclosure for gifts from others (gifts over $100, again not aggregated). Its basic conflict of interest provision is based on that of the City Ethics Model Code.
The ethics commission is truly independent (see an earlier blog post for the selection process) and well thought out, with one exception: it cannot initiate its own investigations or file its own complaints. This is a serious oversight. However, the inspector general can act on its own initiative, and has a hotline to aid in getting tips from people who are either afraid of retaliation or do not want to put together a formal complaint. Since the IG is required to notify the EC of any possible violation of the ethics code, and aid in the EC's investigation, the EC does appear to be able to act, indirectly and with the IG's cooperation, on anonymous tips. If they cooperate well, this setup could work.
Another possible problem is the two-year statute of limitations from the time of the violation. Since much unethical conduct involves failure to disclose, this is too short a time. One odd detail in the ethics commission ordinance is that, for a complaint to be legally sufficient, it must "be based substantially on the personal knowledge of the complainant." Newspaper reports and documents do not appear to be sufficient.
The EC will have at least two lawyers, one to act as its counsel, another to act as Advocate, prosecuting cases before it.
Ethics training will be mandatory. It can be given either by the EC or the IG.
The IG is selected by a committee that consists primarily of the ethics commission. Like the EC, the IG can investigate possible wrongdoing, but it can only make recommendations to the county commissioners, if there is no clear violation of a law. Unlike the commission, much of the IG's budget will come from a charge (.25%) on county contracts (as well as on the contracts of participating cities and towns). However, a large percentage of contracts are excluded from this charge. The IG can also recover investigation costs from entities involved in willful misconduct, although it's not clear how.
This is an excellent step forward for Palm Beach County.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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The most interesting thing about this response to numerous political scandals in the county is that, as in Miami-Dade County, it is intended to cover cities and towns within the county that want to participate in the ethics program. However, the extended jurisdiction of the inspector general must be approved by voters in November 2010, according to a Sun-Sentinel article yesterday.
The ethics code is good, although its range of provisions is narrow. The gift provision prohibits only gifts over $100 (not aggregated) from lobbyists and their employers, requiring only disclosure for gifts from others (gifts over $100, again not aggregated). Its basic conflict of interest provision is based on that of the City Ethics Model Code.
The ethics commission is truly independent (see an earlier blog post for the selection process) and well thought out, with one exception: it cannot initiate its own investigations or file its own complaints. This is a serious oversight. However, the inspector general can act on its own initiative, and has a hotline to aid in getting tips from people who are either afraid of retaliation or do not want to put together a formal complaint. Since the IG is required to notify the EC of any possible violation of the ethics code, and aid in the EC's investigation, the EC does appear to be able to act, indirectly and with the IG's cooperation, on anonymous tips. If they cooperate well, this setup could work.
Another possible problem is the two-year statute of limitations from the time of the violation. Since much unethical conduct involves failure to disclose, this is too short a time. One odd detail in the ethics commission ordinance is that, for a complaint to be legally sufficient, it must "be based substantially on the personal knowledge of the complainant." Newspaper reports and documents do not appear to be sufficient.
The EC will have at least two lawyers, one to act as its counsel, another to act as Advocate, prosecuting cases before it.
Ethics training will be mandatory. It can be given either by the EC or the IG.
The IG is selected by a committee that consists primarily of the ethics commission. Like the EC, the IG can investigate possible wrongdoing, but it can only make recommendations to the county commissioners, if there is no clear violation of a law. Unlike the commission, much of the IG's budget will come from a charge (.25%) on county contracts (as well as on the contracts of participating cities and towns). However, a large percentage of contracts are excluded from this charge. The IG can also recover investigation costs from entities involved in willful misconduct, although it's not clear how.
This is an excellent step forward for Palm Beach County.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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