What Makes a Conflict Problematic

A conflict situation in Albuquerque presents an excellent
opportunity to consider just what it is about conflicts that makes
them problematic. According to <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/11/10/news/conflict-alleged-on-poli…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Albuquerque <i>Journal</i> on Saturday</a>, the chair of
Albuquerque's Police Oversight Commission also directs the auxiliary
of the local branch of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and her
husband is president of the state FOP.<br>
<br>
Someone who recently complained to the Police Oversight Commission about this situation
focused his allegations on the fact that the national Fraternal
Order of Police opposes citizen oversight of police conduct. He said
that the chair "could not hold officers accountable while belonging
to an organization that is against the very board she sits on. 'She
obviously has a bias towards the police department.'"<br>
<br>

The chair says she was unaware of the FOP’s position on citizen
oversight boards, and that she disagrees with this position. She also
insists that she can do her job objectively.<br>
<br>
Her bias or her ability to do her job objectively are not facts that
anyone can establish. They are simply speculations. Even the chair
does not know how much she may be affected by her involvement with
the FOP auxiliary or her husband's involvement with the state FOP.<br>
<br>
It is not bias or ability to do one's job objectively that make a
conflict of interest problematic. It is the appearance of bias and
the appearance that one is conflicted that make it problematic.<br>
<br>
Appearance of a conflict may seem no more concrete a consideration than bias or objectivity. But the appearance that someone is conflicted is essentially the same as the
facts of the conflict. When someone is both on an oversight commission
and on the body of an organization closely related to those
over whom one has oversight, there is a conflict and an appearance
that one is conflicted, that one may therefore be biased toward
those over whom one has oversight, and that one may therefore fail
to do one's oversight job objectively.<br>
<br>
This is equally true when one's husband (brother, child, business
partner) is the head of an overseen group's state organization or
has some other close relationship with those one is supposed to
oversee.<br>
<br>
One needn't have done anything wrong to have a problematic conflict. But it is harmful to the public's trust in government when an official is involved in a decision that appears to be biased toward someone with whom she has a special relationship. This conduct, which appears improper, cannot be allowed to happen.<br>
<br>
It is also harmful to an official to be in a position where her obligations are in conflict, even if she feels she can handle the situation perfectly well. Most of us think we can handle things better than we really can. Conflict laws are also for the protection of officials.<br>
<br>
The chair needs to recognize that this is not a personal issue
involving her integrity, her ability to act objectively, or her
opinion on citizen oversight. It is a public issue alone, and it
involves how her situation appears to the public. She needs to
recognize that she has a public problem regarding the strong
appearance of impropriety that arises from her conflict situation.
The appearance is so strong that she has no choice other than to
resign from her membership of the oversight commission. It is too late for her and her husband to resign from their FOP positions.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
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