Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics V - Ethical Leadership and Lobbyist-Campaign Consultants

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Mon, 08/27/2012 - 08:48

The fifth essay in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corruption-American-Politics-Michael-Genovese/dp/…; target="”_blank”">Corruption and American Politics</a>, an essay collection edited by Michael
A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by
editor Michael Genovese, a professor at Loyola Marymount
University. An essay on presidential corruption would not appear to
have much relevance to local government ethics, but presidents,
mayors, city managers, and other high-level local officials all have
an important ethical leadership role to play in their governments. 
 
Ethical Leadership 
What Genovese says about the ethical leadership of a president
applies equally to a mayor or city manager:

Presidents, no less than corporate executives, set the moral tone
for their administrations, provide guidance as to what is acceptable
or unacceptable behavior, and establish organizational norms and
limits. Presidents demonstrate by word and deed the kind of behavior
that will be tolerated, as well as the standards applicable to the
entire administration.</blockquote>

Genovese looks at some of the presidents whose administrations were
most corrupt. One thing he finds in common is that they were poor
judges of character. They appointed people who tended to be out for
themselves and who could not be trusted to even let the president
know what they were doing. This weakness is usually accompanied by
the tendency to stick by one's family and friends when they are
accused of misconduct. Personal loyalty undermines moral authority.
It makes personal loyalty rather than responsibility to the public
the standard for an entire administration. 
 
Genovese quotes Warren Harding as saying, "I have no trouble with my
enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn
friends, my God damn friends; they're the ones that keep me walking
the floor nights." 
 
A second pattern Genovese found in his study is "almost unfettered
access to the administration" by business people and their
representatives. This can be an even more serious problem at the
local level, where it often appears that contractors and developers
effectively run a local government. 
 
A third pattern is the failure to exercise control and discipline,
allowing appointees to believe that they can get away with
misconduct. 
 
Secrecy is another characteristic of a poor ethics environment.
Genovese quotes from the congressional report on the Iran-Contra
scandal during the Reagan administration:<blockquote>

The common ingredients ... were secrecy, deception, and disdain for
the law. … They viewed knowledge of their actions by others in the
government as a threat to their objectives. … When exposure was
threatened, they destroyed official documents and lied to cabinet
officials, to the public, and to elected representatives in
Congress.</blockquote>

Too often, money is seen to be the principal goal of ethical
misconduct. But presidential corruption shows a different story. "In
matters of money, presidents seem to have been for the most part
uninvolved, but in matters of power and ideology (Watergate and
Iran-Contra), presidents have been highly involved." 
 
Reciprocity 
In his essay "Corruption and Scandal in Washington: Have Lobbying
and Ethics Reform Made a Difference?" James Thurber, a professor at
American University, discusses an issue that is central to
government ethics, but too often ignored: reciprocity.<blockquote>

Reciprocity is one of the strongest embedded norms in public life.
It is directly related to ethical dilemmas that occur in the linkage
among consultants, lobbyists, and elected public officials. The
"iron law of reciprocity" is like gravity. It is beyond dispute, but
hard to confirm without rigorous testing. Reciprocity is defined as:
"To return in kind or degree; the mutual or equivalent exchange or
paying back of what one has received; ... mutual dependence, action
or influence ...." Reciprocity is expected in personal relationships
and it is a strong influence on political relationships …
Reciprocity can be the basis of the movement of people through the
political and government "revolving door".</blockquote>

In other words, reciprocity is an acceptable norm that leads to a
great deal of unacceptable behavior. If not for reciprocity, there
would be less problem with gifts or frequent meetings with those
representing special interests. Reciprocity is, by definition, a
form of special consideration, providing access, preferential
treatment, and greater success in getting contracts, permits, and
grants, as well as helpful legislation (or the prevention of
regulation and other limitations). 
 
Unlike bribery, where there is a direct relationship between one
gift and another, in a relationship of ongoing reciprocity, there is
no such relationship. The result is the same, but many jurisdictions
treat them as if there were no similarities at all. 
 
Lobbyist-Campaign Consultants 
Thurber's essay focuses on the reciprocal relationships formed among
campaign consultants, lobbyists, and officials, asking whether they
"build an ethical blind spot and undermine the civic
responsibility of the actors in a relationship." 
 
He also notes that these relationships lack transparency. No one can
know what occurred, only that such special relationships lead to
preferential treatment. 
 
A Los Angeles Case Study 
The case study Thurber uses is a good one for those interested in local
government ethics. The Los Angeles council was debating a contract
for a new city theater. The contractor's lobbyist had been a
campaign consultant to a council member, and was currently running
her campaign for city controller. This council member became the
contractor's chief backer on the council. Her relationship with the
lobbyist was so close that he listened via her speaker phone to the
council's discussion of the contract. 
 
But she said that there was no problem. According to <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/11/local/me-24118" target="”_blank”">a
February 11, 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times</a>, she said
that people can keep their relationships as lobbyists and lobbied
separate from their roles as advisors and politicians. "It's a
business relationship. You are paying for someone to run your
campaign." The lobbyist's defense was, "Sometimes she votes on
positions I support, and sometimes she doesn't." But then, as the
council member told the Times, she often has friends on both sides
of an issue. 
 
The Advantage of Wearing Two Hats 
Does a lobbyist's wearing of two hats help his clients? This
lobbyist appears to think so. He wrote in a mailer to prospective
lobbying clients in 1998, "The secret of Afriat's success is the
political consulting arm of our firm—we represent elected officials
in fund-raising and campaign management." 
 
According to the Times article, more than a dozen city lobbyists had
been consultants to local officials' campaigns. In fact, "seven of
the 14 City Council members likely to vote on the matter have at
some point hired for political work the same lobbyists whose clients
are bidding on the contract." 
 
Do Lobbyists Have Civic Responsibility? 
The L.A. ethics commission considering barring elected officials
from voting on issues involving lobbyists who had served as their
campaign consultants, but decided not to. If they had, I'm sure a
suit would have been filed on First Amendment grounds. Thurber
believes that along with these First Amendment rights comes a "civic
responsibility to the overall democratic system." I agree. 
 
Robert Wechsler 
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics 
 
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Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics V - Ethical Leadership and Lobbyist-Campaign Consultants

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