The State-Local Obstacle to Ethics Reform

One of the biggest obstacles to ethics reform in some U.S. states and Canadian provinces is the possibility of state enforcement of local ethics. For example, in Connecticut, there has been talk for years at the state level about either having state enforcement or state requirements. Even though it has all been talk, and the towns and cities have successfully talked it down, the same town and city CEOs have said that it's silly to talk about local ethics reform when something might happen at the state level. It's a great way to eat your cake and have it, too.

According to an editorial in the Winnipeg Sun,, this recently happened in Winnipeg. Some council members favored asking the province to oversee local ethics, because they felt it was a conflict of interest to have the mayor and the council appoint people to oversee their own ethics. Other council members and, apparently, the mayor said they favored having the mayor appoint an "accountability commissioner" and have more scrutiny over councillors' expense accounts. But when it came to a vote, the council did not vote for either solution. So ethics is still up to their personal judgment.

The mayor had the public interest clearly in mind when he described the exercise as follows: "It was an opportunity for a few councillors to go after yours truly and they chose to do that. That's fine. That comes with the territory,"

When the mayor sees government ethics as about him, it does seem time to ship ethics enforcement out of town.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

---