A New Book on the Worst Recent Ethics Scandal
I don't get it. Such a big deal has been made out of the Bell, CA
officials paying themselves big bucks. This was considered the big
local government ethics story of the last few years. The Los Angeles
<i>Times</i> won a Pulitizer Prize for uncovering it.<br>
<br>
Yes, what happened in Bell was appalling. But <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal" target="”_blank”">what
happened in Luzerne County, PA</a> was far, far worse. And yet,
for example, <a href="http://www.scu.edu/r/ethics-center/ethicsblog/herhonor/15774/Corruption…; target="”_blank”">the
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has two blog posts</a> about
Bell, and none about Luzerne County.<br>
<br>
The reason I raise this issue is that I feel that government ethics
puts too much emphasis on money and the misconduct of bad apples.
Although money was involved in Luzerne County, in fact a lot more
than in Bell, what makes the scandal so horrible is that (1) it led
to hundreds of young people being imprisoned in juvenile detention
centers who had done nothing and who had been given almost no chance
to defend themselves (this is why it's known as the Kids for Cash
scandal); and (2) a large number of professionals inside and outside
of the court system knew something serious was wrong, and yet only a
handful of them tried to do anything to bring notice to what was
happening and bring it to a stop.<br>
<br>
What happened in Luzerne County would have been horrible even if no
money had been involved. Injustice was done to children, and the
justice system and all those involved in it, not just the two judges who went to prison, failed
to protect them.<br>
<br>
The lesson to be learned from this scandal is also more important.
Everyone in government, and even those who come into contact with
government and whose livelihood depend on government, have an
obligation to report misconduct. When they fail to do so, very bad
things happen.<br>
<br>
The reason I raise this issue now is that I just learned about a new
book about the scandal, called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Cash-Thousands-Children-Kickback/dp/15955868…; target="”_blank”"><i>Kids
for Cash</i></a>, by William Ecenbarger. The book was reviewed (five
months late) <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/books/review/kids-for-cash-and-the-in…; target="”_blank”">in
the New York <i>Times Book Review yesterday,</a> and does not appear
to have been widely reviewed.<br>
<br>
What happened in Luzerne County should (1) be used to support the argument for <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/full-text-model-ethics-code#0.1_TOC49…; target="”_blank”">a Complicity and Knowledge ethics provision</a> and (2) be part of every government
ethics training program. It should serve as an example to show why keeping your
own nose clean is not enough.<br>
<br>
For <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/luzerne%20county%20judges" target="”_blank”">my blog posts on Luzerne County, click here</a>.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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