Misinformation and the Lack of Ethics Training in Mississippi
Misinformation is rampant in local government ethics. And the less
people understand it, the easier it is for the misinformation to be
taken at face value.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=6168" target="”_blank">an article
in yesterday's <i>Dispatch</i></a>, in Columbus, a city of 24,000 in eastern
Mississippi, one council member's response to a fist fight between the
mayor and another council member was to propose an ethics code so that
officials would treat each other and the public with respect.<br>
<br>
The city attorney told the council that the substance of the proposed
code is contained in <a href="http://www.ethics.state.ms.us/ethics/ethics.nsf/PageSection/A_ethics_la…; target="”_blank">the
state's Ethics in Government Law</a>, which applies to local officials
and which he called "very comprehensive." I couldn't find a copy of the
proposed code (Columbus <a href="http://www.thecityofcolumbusms.org/secondary.asp?t=6&p=41&s=107&n=0" target="”_blank">council
minutes online</a> are seven months behind, which is inexcusable), but the state
ethics law is far from comprehensive, and it certainly doesn't have
civility provisions.<br>
<br>
The <a href="http://www.ethics.state.ms.us/ethics/ethics.nsf" target="”_blank">state
ethics commission</a>, which has jurisdiction over ethics, public
records, and the open meetings act, has a <a href="http://www.ethics.state.ms.us/ethics/ethics.nsf/webpage/A_records_stats…; target="”_blank">page
of average annual statistics</a> (there is no stated range of years
from which these statistics are taken), and the numbers show limited activity. The worst number is the number of training sessions
per year: 30 for the entire state. No wonder the Columbus council
member doesn't appear to have known about the state ethics law.<br>
<ul>
Advisory Opinions Issued Per Year: 145<br>
Complaints Processed Per Year: 118<br>
Investigations Conducted Per Year: 33<br>
Training Sessions Conducted Per Year: 30
</ul>
There is no explanatory information on the state EC website, other than
<a href="http://www.ethics.state.ms.us/ethics/ethics.nsf/webpage/A_seminar_prese…; target="”_blank">power
point presentations</a>, to educate local government officials.
However, for lawyers who can read them, there are many excellent
advisory opinions.<br>
<br>
Due to misunderstanding, or misstatement, civility rules (which don't
belong in ethics codes, but are appropriate for council rules of
conduct) were not even considered in Columbus, and the door was pretty
much closed on considering other improvements to the city's ethics
environment. The city attorney should have told the council that in
many states where local government ethics is handled at the state
level, such as California and Florida, there are also many valuable ethics programs
at the local level. One does not necessarily preclude the other.<br>
<br>
Clearly, from the Columbus council's apparent lack of knowledge of the
state ethics laws, a great deal more ethics training is needed. There
is nothing preventing Mississippi local governments from taking on this task, at
the very least.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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