Who Makes the Best Ethics Commission Member?

Who is the best sort of individual to select as an ethics commission
member?  Some people believe it's a member of the clergy, because
who else is more ethical? And there are many clergy members on ethics
commissions across the country. But this shows either a
misunderstanding of government ethics (that it's about being good
rather than dealing responsibly with conflicts of interest) or a
preference for appearances, even if it gives the public the wrong
impression about what government ethics is all about.<br>
<br>
Some people believe the best EC member is a lawyer, because an EC has
to interpret a law, the ethics code. It's true that EC members who are
not lawyers may need the advice of a lawyer, especially when the
language of the local ethics code is overly complex. But this is true
of people in every walk of life.<br>
<br>
The other reason that lawyers are valuable on an EC is that they are
professionals accustomed to working with an ethics code of their own.
But this is true of nearly all professionals and an increasing number of corporate employees.<br>
<br>

But most professionals outside of the law — from engineers to social
workers — are far less politically involved and are far less likely to
be part of a firm that either does business with the local government
or represents those who deal with the local government. In other words,
most other professionals have fewer conflicts of interest than lawyers.
And the one thing an EC member should have very few of is conflicts of
interest. This is an appearance that is far more important than the
appearance provided by a clergy member.<br>
<br>
In short, it is good for an EC member to understand conflicts of interest and have dealt
with a professional ethics code.<br>
<br>
What sparked this blog post was the announcement of New Jersey Gov.
Christie's appointments to the state EC. All four are lawyers, and
three of them are former prosecutors, like Christie.<br>
<br>
I have nothing against former prosecutors. In fact, City Ethics
president Carla Miller is a former prosecutor. But ethics enforcement
is a far cry from prosecution. And ECs have a staff to do the equivalent of
prosecuting. I'm not sure it's good for them to have so many
prosecutors looking over their shoulders.  <br>
<br>
It's questionable
how well the prosecutorial attitude translates into government ethics
enforcement, especially on the commission itself. One difference between the two stands out. Prosecution is very
political. Government ethics enforcement needs to be very unpolitical.<br>
<br>
How unpolitical are these prosecutors? According to<a href="http://blogs.app.com/capitolquickies/2010/09/14/christie-overhauls-stat…;
a Capitol Quickies blog post yesterday</a>, one has held numerous
elected offices and was Christie's lead prosecutor in southern New
Jersey when Christie was U.S. Attorney; one is COO for the state's
Department of Labor & Workforce Development, and was hired as an
assistant U.S. Attorney by Christie; and one is responsible for
managing the state's school construction program. The fourth appointee
was a member of Christie's law school class.<br>
<br>
The appearance is that these are the governor's men, with
possible conflicts. This appearance, and future problems with potential conflicts, need to be balanced against
their expertise. But is a prosecutorial background even an asset for an
EC member? Is working in state government an asset for an EC member?<br>
<br>
I will repeat here the words of Walter Dellinger, head of the Office of
Legal Counsel under Pres. Clinton, which I included in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/732">a blog post a year ago</a>:<ul>

The people involved in an ethics program,
including officials, lawyers, and ethics commission members, must
supply the judgment, sensitivity, and humility necessary to deal with
all the gray areas and all the areas that aren't covered at all.<br>
<br>
Ethics is not an area where strict construction, partisanship, or
certitude belong. Sensitivity to appearances, to democratic principles,
and to fairness are what is most important.<br>
<br>
And transparency cannot be
overstressed. This is not a
natural skill for lawyers, but in the ethics field, I think it is an
important goal to strive for.</ul>

Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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