A Toothless Ethics Commission Seeks Information About the Effects of Its Recommendations
<br>
Ethics reform is difficult without a scandal. If your local government
doesn't have an ethics commission, it's hard to form one. If there's an
ethics commission without teeth, it's hard to even get dentures. And in
Denver, according to <a href="http://www.coloradoforethics.org/node/27787" target="”_blank”">an article in the
Denver <i>Post</i></a>, it's hard to even get information about what happens
after a toothless ethics commission recommends disclipinary action.<br>
<br>
The <a href="http://www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/Board_of_…; target="”_blank”">Denver
Ethics Board</a><span> wants to know how city employees are disciplined
for ethical misconduct, especially the outcome of the recommendations
they make. It says that it will keep the information confidential.<br>
<br>
These aren't baseless allegations, which most people agree should be
kept confidential. This is the discipline given to individuals where
the board has found clear and convincing evidence that they have violated the
ethics code, after an investigation and a hearing.<br>
<br>
And yet, according to the article, the city attorney's office </span><span>fears
that giving the board this information would "violate employees'
privacy rights. The
office also says that giving the board detailed disciplinary
information about employees and City Council appointees could change
the advisory nature of the board." But the board is not asking for
teeth, only information so it can gauge the effects of its
toothlessness.<br>
<br>
Has the city attorney's office heard of something called
accountability? We're not talking about disciplining an employee for
doing a lousy job. We're talking about employees giving contracts to
their siblings, accepting gifts from developers, and the like. What is
the privacy right of an employee who has done such a thing compared to
the public's right to have its public servants held accountable for
unethical conduct?<br>
<br>
If the city council listens to the city attorney and withholds this
information from the ethics board, the board should consider treating
this as a scandal and asking for teeth.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
---</p>