Ginny Looney

One of the most important figures in local government ethics passed away last week at the young age of 61, after a relapse of ovarian cancer. Virginia "Ginny" Looney was Atlanta's first Ethics Officer. She was appointed by Mayor Shirley Franklin, who conceived and pushed through the ethics program back in 2002.

Ginny helped turn Franklin's ideas and an inadequate ethics code into an excellent ethics program. She held the ground against attempts to weaken the program, used the internet to provide both transparency and ease of disclosure, and prepared a variety of reports and advisory opinions that are examples for other ethics programs to follow. She did a great deal with limited resources.

Ginny understood government ethics better than anyone I know. I learned so much from bouncing ideas off her, even after she left her position to work for a state Supreme Court judge a few years ago. She also had a wonderful, biting sense of humor, which made Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) conferences enjoyable for all those lucky enough to be in her company.

It's worth quoting Franklin, from an excellent Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary:

When public officials resisted, Franklin said, “Ginny never went on the attack, she didn’t vilify people, she didn’t demonize them. But ultimately, Ginny won. She didn’t try to be the smartest person in the room, though, more often than not, she was.”

Ginny was the smartest person in every room I shared with her. The best way for people in the government ethics world to remember her is to emulate the work she did and check out her reports and opinions, which will live on for a long time on the Atlanta ethics board's website.

The family has asked that memorial gifts go toward establishment of a Ginny Looney Summer Fellowship at the Southern Education Foundation, 135 Auburn Ave. NE, 2d Fl., Atlanta, GA 30303. The foundation's mission is to "advance equity and excellence in education in the American South."

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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