New Cuyahoga County Executive Puts a New Ethics Policy First

Cuyahoga County, OH, which includes Cleveland, has been the site of a large number of arrests of government officials, contractors, and developers, primarily for making and accepting bribes (see my blog post). The most recent arrest occurred on December 17.

As of this week, the county has a new form of government, featuring a county executive and council, and a new (albeit so far barebones) ethics policy announced on Monday as the first act of the new county executive. The basic ethics policy has only four provisions, as follows:

Will not solicit or accept anything of value for themselves or family members which could improperly influence their official duties;

Will be required to sign an ethics policy statement and receive training in ethics requirements of the new government;

Will not hold any outside or secondary employment without approval through the Office of Human Resources, and must avoid any employment that may conflict with the conduct of their duties;

Will have an affirmative duty to report apparent wrongdoing, fraud or other unethical behavior they observe as members of the county workforce – this includes behavior of outside vendors or other third parties doing business or seeking to do business with Cuyahoga County.

The best part of this ethics policy is the intention to provide ethics training and to require the reporting of unethical behavior. But the heart of this ethics policy is stronger than its mind. The gift policy provides little in the way of guidance, and leaves it up to the official or employee to determine whether it could influence him (few believe a gift could). The duty to report wrongdoing and unethical behavior assumes that officials and employees know what these consist of. And there is no hint of any way of seeking advice, procedures for reporting, or enforcement of ethics rules.

Most important, local government ethics in Ohio is under the jurisdiction of the state ethics commission, but I did not see any mention of this basic fact. There's not even a link to the commission on the county website's link page. It will be interesting to see how the county executive's ethics reforms will be integrated with the state ethics program.

The ethics policy memo says that the county Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual will now apply to all employees in units that report to the county executive, but neither a Google search nor a search within the county website led me to this manual. The memo says that copies will be e-mailed or delivered to all officials and employees, but it would be nice for everyone to have easy access to the manual on-line. It will be interesting to see how county ethics reforms will be integrated with personnel policies.

The new county executive says that he will install an inspector general. It will be interesting to see how the IG's office is integrated with the new ethics program.

The county executive already arranged for an "integrity audit" by a former FBI agent, which is just now becoming available, to provide information and recommendations for the inspector general to hit the ground running. But according to an article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, the audit contains no new revelations, and the county executive's spokesman is now calling it a "cursory review."

Another idea the county executive has is the drafting of a vendor code of conduct. This merits its own blog post.

One potentially good thing in the ethics policy memo is its reference to training "in ethics and professionalism." I hope this means that the training program will focus on the professionalism of government ethics, that is, the fact that ethical decision-making by government officials and employees is not just about acting good, but about acting professionally and responsibly.

In addition to an IG and ethics policy, the new county executive promised in his race to bring transparency to county government. I wish him well.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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