Ethics Provisions in Luzerne County Draft Charter
I learned recently that the Luzerne County (PA) ethics pledge movement,
which I wrote about in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/comparison-two-county-ethics-initiati…; target="”_blank”">May</a>
and <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/ethics-pledge-thats-too-much-and-too-…; target="”_blank”">September</a>,
is
complemented by <a href="http://luzernegsc.org/wp-content/uploads/Final-Draft-Charter-8.16.2010…; target="”_blank”">a
draft
charter</a> which is to be approved or rejected by voters on
November 2. The ethics provisions in this draft charter have some good and some bad. Assuming that voters approve the charter, if the county manager, the council, and the other county officials responsible for selecting ethics commission members think this thing through, much of the bad can be turned into good.<br>
<br>
Pages 51-54 of the draft charter contain an article relating to
Accountability, Conduct, and Ethics. The article requires the drafting
of an accountability, conduct, and ethics code by the newly appointed
county manager within four months, which seems a short time under the
circumstances. He shouldn't rush things. Instead, he should treat the four-month period as a goal, not a deadline. He'll have a lot else on his plate.<br>
<br>
One unusual aspect of this code will be that it applies to the local
judiciary, which is where the county's biggest scandal occurred.
Generally, the judiciary has its own ethics codes and bodies.<br>
<br>
Unfortunately, as the charter article's title implies, the ethics code will go well beyond
government ethics to include personal conduct, as well as
"discrimination, favoritism, harassment, and oppression." As I've said many times before, these topics (with the exception of favoritism) are not best handled by an ethics commission. Including them opens the ethics process up to all sorts of personal accusation, and can turn the government ethics process into a circus.<br>
<br>
The county manager should seriously consider placing the conduct
provisions in an aspirational section of the code that will not be
enforced by the commission, despite its burdensome name.<br>
<br>
The proposed Accountability, Conduct, and Ethics Commission would have
a very unusual membership: "the County Manager or his/her
designee, the District Attorney or his/her designee, the Controller or
his/her designee, and two registered voters" from the two major
parties, appointed by the county council. Especially if the county has
a poor ethical environment, who will trust a commission consisting of
three of its most powerful officials? People won't forget that the D.A.
did nothing about the two judges behind the county's biggest scandal,
and the county manager will be beholden to the council.<br>
<br>
The most interesting charter provisions are the two that deal with a
problem in many local governments: the failure of officials to fill
vacant spots on an ethics commission. If this failure occurs, a citizen may
request the Court of Common Pleas to make the appointment. It's
creative to anticipate this problem, but I'm not sure I like the
solution, especially in a county whose judiciary has recently had the most unethical
environment of the three divisions of government.<br>
<br>
A valuable ethics provision appears elsewhere in the charter (p.
41): "No County employee shall serve as officer in a political
party at the County, state, or national level." This is important,
because a party officer is required to openly criticize or defend
elected officials in ways inappropriate for government employees.<br>
<br>
But a provision hidden in a paragraph (§8.02E) could be trouble:
an official loses his or her position on a board or commission if he or
she "knowingly or willfully violates any provision of this Charter."
The council, which decides on such vacancies, could find these words a
big problem, because there are so many ways to violate a charter, and
any accusation of violation would turn into a big fight to retain the accused's position.<br>
<br>
It appears that the character-oriented approach of the ethics pledge
movement has made its way into law. If the next step in the creation of an effective ethics program is not handled right, the ACE commission will have its
hands full, not only with complaints about the personal conduct of
officials, but with accusations of conflicts on the part of its
members, who will be seen as having little or no independence. I hope
the county manager, D.A., and controller will make it immediately clear
that they will not serve on the commission. They, and the county
council, should consider going one step further: appointing
individuals selected by neutral community organizations, so that they
will be and appear independent.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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