EC Members and Ethics Advice

Is it too much to ask that an ethics commission member lead the way,
set an example, with respect to the single most important aspect of
a government ethics program:  ethics advice?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.journalnow.com/news/state_region/article_7a2ae790-27e0-11e3-…; target="”_blank”">an

article last week in the Winston-Salem <i>Journal</a>, a member of
the North Carolina ethics commission entered into a $312,000
contract with the state, beginning work in June, apparently without
seeking ethics advice. Last Thursday, someone raised this as a
problem to the EC member's appointing authority, the president pro
tem of the state senate. The senator determined that this contract
"could create a perception of a conflict of interest" and asked the
EC member to resign from the EC, which he immediately did.<br>
<br>

But the state senator was wrong. The issue is not the perception of
a conflict. The state ethics code says explicitly, "No member while
serving on the Commission ... shall hold or be a candidate for any
other office or place of trust or profit under the United States,
the State, or a political subdivision of the State."<br>
<br>
Now, there might be a question whether being a consultant to a state
agency is a "place of trust or profit." If the EC member was unsure,
he should have sought ethics advice. So too should the senator,
before he spoke publicly.<br>
<br>
It is one thing to create the perception of a conflict, and another
thing to violate an ethics provision because one failed to check the
ethics code and seek advice. Once there is an ethics violation, resignation is not a sufficient cure. The EC member should admit to having violated the ethics provision and offer to pay a substantial fine, setting an example for other officials and consultants in taking responsibility for an ethics violation committed because one failed to seek ethics advice.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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