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A Toothless Ethics Commission Seeks Information About the Effects of Its Recommendations
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Robert Wechsler
Ethics reform is difficult without a scandal. If your local government doesn't have an ethics commission, it's hard to form one. If there's an ethics commission without teeth, it's hard to even get dentures. And in Denver, according to an article in the Denver Post, it's hard to even get information about what happens after a toothless ethics commission recommends disclipinary action.
The Denver Ethics Board wants to know how city employees are disciplined for ethical misconduct, especially the outcome of the recommendations they make. It says that it will keep the information confidential.
These aren't baseless allegations, which most people agree should be kept confidential. This is the discipline given to individuals where the board has found clear and convincing evidence that they have violated the ethics code, after an investigation and a hearing.
And yet, according to the article, the city attorney's office fears that giving the board this information would "violate employees' privacy rights. The office also says that giving the board detailed disciplinary information about employees and City Council appointees could change the advisory nature of the board." But the board is not asking for teeth, only information so it can gauge the effects of its toothlessness.
Has the city attorney's office heard of something called accountability? We're not talking about disciplining an employee for doing a lousy job. We're talking about employees giving contracts to their siblings, accepting gifts from developers, and the like. What is the privacy right of an employee who has done such a thing compared to the public's right to have its public servants held accountable for unethical conduct?
If the city council listens to the city attorney and withholds this information from the ethics board, the board should consider treating this as a scandal and asking for teeth.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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