Deception About Ethics Commission Approval and Another Problem with Ethics Self-Regulation
This week saw the opening of the trial of former New York state senate
majority leader Joseph Bruno for honest services fraud. According to
the assistant U.S. attorney presenting the
case, as <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=860586" target="”_blank”">quoted
in the Albany <i>Times-Union</i></a>, although a
criminal trial, "this case is about conflicts of
interest. It's about failure to
disclose conflicts of interest, and it's about concealment of
information that might have exposed conflicts of interest."<br>
<br>
Among the allegations, according to <a href="http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2009/11/03/news/doc4aefa3bea93b39085…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Troy <i>Record</i></a>, was one that Bruno "used his position
to
exert influence over entities or individuals that needed to curry his
favor in state government." One of the most serious allegations was
that individuals who gave Bruno money to use his influence "were led to
believe their involvement with Bruno had been cleared by the
Legislative Ethics Panel when, in fact, they had not."<br>
<br>
What makes this
so serious is the fact that even law-abiding individuals might have become
complicit in the senator's unethical conduct. It is important that those
who do business with government can make a thoughtful ethical decision
whether to
improperly influence an official and whether to disclose transactions.
If someone is told that the influence has been vetted and that there is
no need to disclose the transaction, they will not be able to act
responsibly. They
become accomplices by deception. It's no surprise that, apparently,
several of these individuals are willing to testify against Bruno.<br>
<br>
Bruno's lawyer "accused the federal government of getting involved in a
matter that
at a state level would amount to no larger than an ethics fine or
misdemeanor charge." But isn't the federal involvement due to the fact
that, at the state level, the ethics
of New York legislators is self-regulated, and that there was a lot
more self than there
was regulation?<br>
<br>
Here is yet another problem with self-regulation:
it practically begs the federal government to get involved. Better to
have an independent ethics commission deal with conflict and disclosure
matters at the state level, before they get so out of hand, the federal
government has to step in.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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