A Miscellany
<b>An Active EC Is a Good Thing</b><br>
Local officials often say that because there are no
complaints to or advisory opinions by their ethics commissions, their town
or city government does not have ethics problems. Actually, it's the other way
around. Local governments with active ethics commissions, especially
dealing with advisory opinions, are more likely to have healthy ethical
environments. It shows that people trust the ethics commission, it
shows that people are thinking about ethics issues, and it supplies
ongoing instruction to officials and employees in the various issues
dealt with, assuming that there is transparency in the ethics process.<br>
<br>
In fact, the less transparency, the less trust, and the less use of the
ethics commission. It becomes a vicious circle that might appear like a
lack of ethics problems, but is more likely to reflect a poor ethical
environment.<br>
<br>
These thoughts arose from reading about a town not far from me, Old
Saybrook (CT, about 11,000 pop), which has three matters currently
before its ethics commission. <a href="http://www.theday.com/article/20100916/NWS01/309169320/-1/NWS" target="”_blank”">A
New London <i>Day</i> article</a> describes the matters, showing that there is
transparency in the town's ethics program. All three matters appear
legitimate. There is an interesting dual role issue, where the town's
chief executive also chairs a state trash authority that has a contract
with the town; a board of finance member doing business with the town;
and a harbor management commission member voting on an issue directly
relating to his own mooring. This old town (founded in 1635) is keeping
up-to-date in terms of government ethics.<br>
<br>
<b>May Ballot Fatigue Be Deadly to Ethics Reform?</b><br>
Just what local government ethics reform needs is a new disease!
According to <a href="http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/palm/blog/2010/09/crowded…; target="”_blank”">the
Palm Beach Politics blog</a> on the <i>Sun-Sentinel</i> site, the Palm Beach
County ethics reform referendum (see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/palm-beach-county-update">my
blog post</a>) will be the penultimate item on page 4 of a 4-page
ballot in the county that made the hanging chad famous.<br>
<br>
"What we are afraid of is people are going to get ballot fatigue and
just not get to it,” David Baker of the Palm Beach County Ethics
Initiative is quoted as saying.<br>
<br>
Let's hope the disease of ballot fatigue isn't deadly to ethics reform.
But at the very least, this is a good example of local government ethics
being treated as the caboose of politics.<br>
<br>
<b>Ethics Code Violations as the Basis for a Crime in New York State</b><br>
A decision of New York State's appellate division,<a href="http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_03145.htm" target="”_blank”">
<i>People v. Gordon</i></a>, determined that the crime of receiving reward for
official misconduct may be predicated on violation of the state's
ethics code. In other words, a violation of the code is "official
misconduct," because the code imposes a mandatory rather than advisory
duty of conduct on state legislators.<br>
<br>
The court compared this situation to an earlier case in which it was
found that a violation of the Rules of Judicial Conduct could be the
basis for the crime of reward for official misconduct.<br>
<br>
Thanks to Patty's Salkin's <a href="http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/official-misconduct-upheld…; target="”_blank”">Law
of the Land blog</a> for pointing out this decision.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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