The Broward League of Cities' Poor Ethics Recommendations

Anonymous

Fri, 06/24/2011 - 07:14

City Related

It's fascinating how different issues are important to local government
officials in difference places at different times. I couldn't say that
officials will always dig in their heels and fight this ethics
provision, or that another ethics provision never raises an eyebrow. 
 
Take Broward County, FL, for example. After numerous arrests and
convictions of local officials, the county commission passed a new
ethics ordinace, and the county's citizens voted to have this ordinance
apply to the county's municipalities (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/broward-county-ethics-reform-passes-b…; target="”_blank”">my
November 2010 blog post</a>). 
 
Many of the municipalities had problems with the ordinance, so the
county commission asked the Broward League of Cities for its
recommended changes in adapting the county code to municipalities. The
county ordinance and the League's revised version are attached below,
so that you can open them side by side, if you'd like. You might also
want to look at <a href="http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/Matrix%20-%2…; target="”_blank”">the
Sun-Sentinel's chart comparing the two</a>.

Lobbying Other Municipal Officials 
The League has focused on four provisions: lobbying, gifts,
charitable solicitation, and procurement selection committees. Of these, only its problems with the gift provision are common. 
 
A very controversial practice by county commissioners was their, their
staff members', and their spouses' lobbying of municipalities within
the county, a topic that isn't even raised in most local governments.
Since county commissioners have some power over municipal governments,
and often had positions in them before running for county office, such
lobbying is a lucrative way for county commissioners and their families
to take advantage of their position. But because this practice caused a
ruckus, the county commission decided to prohibit this practice over
the objections of some commissioners. 
 
Of course, municipal officials can't lobby "down," as this practice is
called, but they can lobby across and up. The question is not, would
this practice create an equally improper appearance, which it wouldn't,
but rather would it create an appearance of impropriety? 
 
It is not likely coincidental that the Broward League of Cities itself is
part of a principal problem with allowing lobbying "across." What I
mean is that municipal officials are colleagues in the League as well
as in other regional bodies, conferences, and events. These are
individuals who, due to their position, have special relationships
with individuals holding similar positions in other county
municipalities. Were they allowed not simply to work with their
colleagues, which is good for their cities, but also to lobby their
colleagues for pay, this would clearly be a use of their position to
benefit themselves. 
 
The question is, is this a misuse of their position? A league of cities
should be the last organization to say this is not a misuse. It
effectively has a conflict on this issue, because it is one of the
organizations that provides these officials with the opportunity to
benefit themselves personally from their relationships with other
League members. 
 
Gifts 
With respect to gifts, the Broward League of Cities has rejected the
county's zero-tolerance gift provision in favor of a $25 per occurrence
limit. It is understandable that they object to such a strong
prohibition, but their recommended solution shows a serious lack
of problem-solving ability at best, and at worst the desire of
municipal officials to get treated by restricted sources. 
 
Yes, it takes some thought to be able to follow a zero-tolerance gift
ban (by the way, this relates only to gifts to elected officials from
lobbyists, vendors, and
contractors). Each municipality should have a clear policy that it will
pay for its officials' food whenever they are invited to an event in
their government role. And candidates must have their campaign pay for
their food
whenever they are invited to an event in their role as a candidate. 
 
Assuming something softer is needed, instead of a $25 per occurrence
limit, which allows a lobbyist to
open lunch or happy hour tabs for any elected official all over town,
why not
recommend $25 per source per year or a de minimis provision superior to the one in the county's
code, which allows only a hearing officer to make a de minimis
determination (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/de-minimis-big-term-government-ethics…; target="”_blank”">my blog post on the concept of de minimis</a>)? $25 per occurrence is not de minimis, since it means,
conceivably, $9,000 per restricted source per year and allows
restricted sources to band together for very posh and frequent lobbying events. 
 
In <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-forum-league-of-cities-0623…; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed piece in yesterday's Sun-Sentinel</a>, the League's president
wrote, "Is it sensible to prohibit an elected official who participates
in a 5K charity run from drinking a bottle of water if that water was
sponsored by a company that does business with their city? ... We
believe that a $25 limit on anything that could be construed as a gift
is reasonable and sensible in the context of community life, and would
not create even the appearance of impropriety." 
 
Does this mayor, after all the discussions of government ethics in
Broward County over the last few years, truly not know that there are
alternatives to a $25 per occurrence limit? Does she not know what her
recommendation allows? Does she not know about de minimis provisions,
which would clearly cover water bottles at charity events, even though
there
is one in the county code? Does she not realize that her city could pay
for her meals when she meets with local companies and lobbyists? 
 
The charity run water example seems so disingenuous, it is hard to
believe the mayor does not recognize the problems with a $25 per
occurrence limit. It is hard to believe that she and her colleagues do
not want to be able to tap in to the benefits offered by those wanting
to influence them. Or that officials can demand from them. 
 
Charitable Solicitation 
Broward County's new ethics code requires elected officials to disclose
all charitable solicitations they are involved in, unless the county
sponsors the appeal. This seems like a conservative provision to me,
since there is not even a prohibition on solicitations to people doing
business with the government. (I dealt with this issue in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/701" target="”_blank”">a blog post two years ago</a>.) 
 
Why would there be such a prohibition? Because charitable solicitation
is a time-honored way for officials to require businesses to pay to
play, that is, to give officials what they ask for in order to do
business with the local government. Officials benefit not themselves
directly, but their pet charities, which give them status and
popularity through the good works their charities do in the community,
and the great publicity that is given to a mayor's charity golf
tournament or a council member's community services organization (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/239" target="”_blank”">my 2007 blog post on this
subject</a>). 
 
When an elected official actually works for a nonprofit, it puts him in
a perfect position to benefit herself both in terms of status and
popularity, and financially, through getting businesses to pay to play
(see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/245" target="”_blank”">my blog post on this</a>). 
 
The League wants to add several exceptions to this disclosure
rule (as described in the Sun-Sentinel):<ul>
1. when the charity or event is sponsored by a
nonprofit entity created by the municipality or with which the
municipality is
currently partnering; 
2. when the elected official is employed by a nonprofit
organization and the official’s job description includes solicitation
of
charitable contributions on behalf of the official’s private employer 
3. when the elected official serves on a nonprofit’s board of
directors, steering committee,
or host committee, or has permitted his or her name to be used in
connection
with a charitable solicitation</ul>

These
might arguably be appropriate exceptions for a prohibition on
charitable solicitation, although they allow some of the problems I
describe above. But they are completely inappropriate exceptions for a
disclosure requirement. There is no reason for officials not to
disclose their solicitations under any of the situations described in
these exceptions. In fact, the one where the official is actually
making money from soliciting is the one that creates the most serious
appearance of impropriety, one bad enough to bring down, for example,
the Connecticut speaker of the house a few years ago. Had he been
required to disclose his solicitations, he probably would not have
taken the job. 
 
Procurement Selection Committees 
The Broward County ethics code considers it a conflict of interest for
county commissioners to sit on or participate in or interfere with
county procurement selection/evaluation committees. This is a great
idea, but one that municipal officials apparently do not want to have
applied to them if they live in municipalities with a strong mayor form
of government. 
 
Procurement is an area fraught with corruption. It is best for everyone if elected
officials stay out of it as much as possible. It's true that the county
has an administrator who selects its procurement committee members, but
this can be done independently of elected officials in strong mayor
municipalities, as well. The code provision will likely have to be supplemented
by a new selection process for strong mayor municipalities (and possibly others, as well), but there is no reason this can't
be done. It will send a great message both to the public and to all
officials and employees that procurement will be kept outside of
politics and as corruption-free as possible. 
 
Robert Wechsler 
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics 
 
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