A Miscellany
<b>Model Ethics Code Promotion As Community Service</b><br>
I promise you that I did not write the City Ethics Model Code in order
to shorten my prison sentence. According to <a href="http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/Need-for-ethics-code-remains-1325…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in
yesterday's Connecticut <i>Post</i></a>, that is effectively what a
Shelton, CT developer offered to do to shorten his sentence for lying
in court about gifts he made to Shelton officials, including the mayor.<br>
<br>
The judge gave him 6 months in prison out of the possible 27 months.
The judge did not, however, make a community service requirement that
the developer pay for a model ethics code and "stump around the state
to publicize it," as the developer apparently requested.<br>
<br>
<b>EC Members and Politics</b><br>
How bad is it for ethics commission members to be involved in politics?
Here's a good example of what can happen.<br>
<br>
A member of the Chula Vista, CA ethics commission ran for a seat on
the Otay Water District Board and lost. The victor and the water
district board president filed a complaint with the ethics board against
the ethics commission member. The ethics commission dismissed the
complaint.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/29/otay-board-members-use-d…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in
last week's San Diego <i>Union-Tribune</i></a>, it appears that the
complaint was for saying derogatory things about the water board
members during the campaign. This is clearly not an ethics issue, and
the complaint appears to have been properly dismissed. But few people
understand this. What they see is an ethics commission protecting one
of its own. This shouldn't happen.<br>
<br>
It allows someone like the water board president to say, "This is just
typical South Bay politics at its worst. This notion that if you’re on
the ethics board then you are squeaky clean is propaganda.” It
shouldn't be propaganda. It should be true.<br>
<br>
Of course, the matter has escalated. The water board members allegedly
used a water district attorney at an EC hearing without proper
authorization, and the EC member filed an open meetings complaint
against them.<br>
<br>
<b>Good Law, Lousy Budget</b><br>
Ethics reform is a wonderful thing, but some kinds of ethics reform
don't mean much without the addition of personnel to make it work. This
is a problem in Philadelphia, according to <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/119306894.html" target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Philadelphia <i>Daily News</i> this week</a>.<br>
<br>
The reform involved the creation of a lobbyist registry. The ethics board
feels it needs to add three staff members (two IT people and a
supervisor/help desk person) to create and maintain the registry (only
about $130,000 a year), but the mayor's budget fails to
provide the necessary additional funds.<br>
<br>
It's not a good time to be seeking budget increases, but it's not
really an increase when a substantial new program is added. Budget
limiting is a favorite way for elected officials to
prevent ethics commissions from actually performing their required
tasks. Not increasing a budget to reflect the addition of a new program sends the message that an administration is not really serious about ethics reform.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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