The Value of Applicant Disclosure

A situation that arose recently in Atlanta shows how important it is to require applicant disclosure of relationships with local government officials, and to hold applicants accountable. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta's ethics office dismissed allegations that a council member had sponsored and voted on a no-bid contract when he had some sort of employment relationship with the contractor. According to an earlier Journal-Constitution article, the allegations were based on an internal e-mail by one of the contractor's executives, sent the day after he had met with the council member:

Steve Hornyak will be officially introduced to the team as part of our new initiative on the Commercial Operations side as well [as] Councilmember Lamar Willis of the City of Atlanta on the Government side. Thank you for your attention to these new appointments. Their profiles will be made available shortly. This information as always is private and confidential … and not for public consumption until it is appropriate for the public domain.

The council member said that he had no relationship with the contractor, and that he had never seen the e-mail. And there is no way that the ethics office could prove that there was such a relationship (unless the contractor had paid the council member), or that the council member had seen the e-mail. Therefore, it was right to dismiss the complaint. An official cannot be held accountable for a contractor's internal e-mails.

However, there is evidence that the contractor at least believed such a relationship had been created (and it certainly knew about the e-mail). Had it been required to disclose such a relationship, it could be found to have violated the ethics code.

Companies and individuals who apply for contracts, permits, grants, and the like should be required to disclose all special relationships with officials who may be involved in the transaction (and to supplement their disclosure whenever a new relationship is created or discovered). These relationships should include family, business, and professional relationships. Applicants should be required to fill out a disclosure form, and should be encouraged to seek advice from the ethics officer if they are not sure whether a relationship must be disclosed. Applicants should also be made aware of the penalties for failure to disclose such a relationship.

Government ethics programs work best when they include everyone involved in a conflict situation. Applicant disclosure provides a check on officials, making it more likely that they will disclose possible conflicts and that conflict situations will not occur in the first place. The more likely disclosure will be made, because people involved have a lot to lose (such as a contract, permit, or grant) if they do not comply, the less likely ethical misconduct is to occur.

For more on this topic, see the Applicant Disclosure section of my book.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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