Misuse of Ethics Enforcement Process
It's always disheartening to see high-level officials
misuse an ethics program for the sake of personal revenge or, as the official says in
the case I'm looking at here, to get "my name cleared."<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/local/former-mayor-files-ethics-complaint…; target="”_blank”">an
article yesterday in the Austin <i>Statesman</i></a>, the last mayor
recently filed two ethics complaints against the mayor who defeated him in
May. The complaints allege that the current mayor choked the former
mayor, filed accusations of corruption and misconduct against him
with the district attorney's office, and sought to damage the former
mayor's political reputation for his own political gain.<br>
<br>
The current mayor (then a council member) apologized for the choking
(he said he grabbed the mayor's collar) incident, and the council voted not to
pursue any charges against him for this. The incident occurred two
years ago.<br>
<br>
What is most important is that choking, grabbing, filing charges
with the district attorney, and trying to gain by attacking your
opponent's political reputation are not violations of Leander's
ethics code (<a href="http://z2codes.franklinlegal.net/franklin/Z2Browser2.html?showset=leand…; target="”_blank”">click
on the city's ordinances</a>, and then go to Article 9.400). Nor should they be violations of any government ethics code. A
former mayor should not only be able to read the ethics code for
himself, but should also be able to check with an attorney or the
ethics commission itself to make sure that he is not misusing the
ethics enforcement process to give an official (and ethical) character to his allegations.<br>
<br>
The ethics commission should not only dismiss the allegations, but
also reprimand (informally) the former mayor for having misused
the ethics process and explain to the community why what the mayor did was wrong. It should also suggest to him that he apologize to the community
for having done this.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
---