Local or State Jurisdiction Over Local Legislators?
Is local government ethics enforcement appropriate for local
legislators? This question is currently being asked in Sarasota
County, FL and Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS. A key to whether
this is the right question is who is asking the question. In both cases, it is
local legislators who have been respondents in ethics enforcement
proceedings, and some of their legislative colleagues.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/investigations/in-wake-of-public-ce…; target="”_blank”">an
article this week on the KSHB-TV website</a>, a Wyandotte County
commissioner was censured twice by the ethics commission, which
requested that he resign (the commissioner refused to resign). This
led the commissioner, at a special session of the county commission,
to "question the process and how complaints are investigated. He
believes the current setup is biased and influenced by local
politics." He and some of his colleagues want to explore the idea of
eliminating the local ethics program and instead utilizing the state’s
ethics commission, which is not known for being very effective with
respect to local officials.<br>
<br>
One county commissioner argued that it is hard for people on an ethics
commission to judge those in ther community, whom they may personally know. But this is what
juries do every day. If EC members are chosen not by politicians,
but by community organizations, they will rarely have a personal
relationship with government officials. They will also not be
considered "influenced by local politics."<br>
<br>
Wyandotte County has an
odd EC selection process. Members are selected by three officials,
the administrative judge of the county district court, the district
attorney of the county, and the legislative auditor of the county.
This is not optimal, because they are all officials, even if, with
the exception of the district attorney, not politically-oriented
officials. But it should provide sufficient independence, if they
take into account the importance of selecting individuals who are
not politically active.<br>
<br>
But the same commissioner continued, “I think some people would
say it's rather Wyandotte County-like to take the position that we
should just take care of anything within our own borders and not
ask anyone from the outside to look over our shoulders and see how
we're doing things.” This is simply not true. Cities and counties
all over the country choose to have their own ethics programs,
even when there is a state program, because they know how
important it is to have training, advice, disclosure, and
oversight available at a level that no state program can provide. They also know how ineffective state programs can be.<br>
<br>
Just having a local program sends a message from the leadership to
the rest of the government organization that dealing responsibly
with conflict situations is a high priority. As the mayor put it,
"I don't think [other Kansas cities and counties] are going to pay
the level of attention and level of detail that the citizens of
this government expect from ethics day in and day out.”<br>
<br>
The Wyandotte County ethics code is unusual. The program could
benefit from adopting some best practices and increasing the
selection of sanctions. But getting rid of it appears to be just
retaliation.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140412/ARTICLE/140419874/-1/spor…; target="”_blank”">an
article Saturday in the <i>Herald-Tribune</a>,</i>
the county administrator fired the ethics officer on March 27,
despite the fact that the ethics officer's "most recent
performance evaluation [had determined that he] met or exceeded
expectations in all categories, drawing high marks for personal
integrity." The ethics officer says he was fired "because he
refused to back off from investigating complaints against the
elected County Commission." The ethics officer was the first to
hold this position in the two-year-old ethics program, after ten
employees, including the county administrator, had been fired or
resigned due to a procurement scandal.<br>
<br>
The new county administrator (the one in between had been fired
by the county commission) says that he wanted to install his "own
team." But an ethics officer should not be part of any official's
team, because the official is subject to the ethics program's
jurisdiction.<br>
<br>
According to a county commissioner who was investigated by the
ethics officer and the county auditor (at the ethics officer's
request), the question is whether the local ethics program or the
state ethics program should enforce ethics laws against county
commissioners. He believes it should be done at the state level. As in Kansas, state enforcement and state laws are notably weak.<br>
<br>
But this county commissioner is not the only one calling for an
end to local ethics officer jurisdiction over them. And, like the
Wyandotte County commissioners, they talk as if they were not acting
in their self-interest at all. They will have to hope that no one
understands the matter enough and that good government groups will
not actively oppose their hopes. With respect to Sarasota County,
one good government group, Integrity Florida, has already stated
its opposition to ending local jurisdiction over county
commissioners.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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