Trenton's Ethics Environment in a Timeline
According to <a href="http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/fbi-raids-homes-of-nj-mayor…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the <i>Times of Trenton</i> yesterday</a>, the FBI raided the
homes of Trenton's mayor, as well as the homes of his brother and a
major campaign contributor.<br>
<br>
For those interested in government ethics, the best thing about the
raid is <a href="http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/07/a_timeline_of_mayor_tony_mac…; target="”_blank”">the
timeline</a> that went up on the <i>Times of Trenton</i>'s website this
morning. The timeline provides a play-by-play of a poor ethics
environment characterized by the worst sort of cronyism, retaliation
against whistleblowers and others, anti-competitive-bidding schemes,
participation in a matter involving the mayor's brother, campaign
finance and public records violations, misuse of government
property, clashes with the council and the state, and resignations
galore. And this is just what the newspaper knows before the FBI has even investigated.<br>
<br>
The timeline is like a mural of a poor local government ethics
environment. It shows that various kinds of ethics
violations are not isolated acts or matters, but rather parts of a
whole. It also shows how many people are willing to go along with or
contribute to a poor ethics environment, when it is to their
personal advantage.<br>
<br>
This is why an ethics commission should not be limited to dealing
with one violation at a time. When there are reports of multiple acts of
misconduct, an ethics commission should deal with the environment
itself, calling the government's leaders before it, getting all the
facts on the table, using the situations as teaching opportunities,
and making it clear to them, their appointees, and the public that
the next time the mayor or his appointees or supporters appear
before the ethics commission without having sought (and followed) advice from the ethics officer, the
penalties will be severe.<br>
<br>
The misconduct described in the timeline should not have been
allowed to continue for two years, until it required an FBI raid. It
would have been far better if the matters had been consolidated and
dealt with as ethics issues, preventing at least some of the worst
misconduct.<br>
<br>
<i>See <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/applying-pay-play-ordinance-trenton&q…; target="”_blank”">the blog post</a> I wrote about a pay-to-play issue in Trenton a year and a half ago.</i><br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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