Law + Character Do Not = Ethics
According to <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/630063.html" target="”_blank”">a
recent article</a> in the Fort Worth <span>Star-Telegram</span>,
Fort Worth's mayor, Mike Moncrief, made $633,000 last year from the oil
and gas business. He also has an interest in several real estate
developments. A committee, appointed by the mayor and council, will
soon be making recommendations on rules for natural gas drilling and on
fees that affect real estate development.<br>
The city attorney says the mayor has no conflict of interest because no
single source constitutes more than 10% of the mayor's income, and the
mayor does not have an ownership interest in any of the companies
involved.<br>
<br>
The mayor says that everyone knows about his interests, and they must
trust him to have elected him mayor.<br>
<br>
Tom Smith, Texas director of the watchdog group Public Citizen, says that having known
the mayor for 30 years and knowing that he's ethical, he recommends that the
mayor recuse himself from voting on these issues due to the appearance
of impropriety.<br>
<br>
The ethics law in Fort Worth apparently says there is no
conflict, and the city attorney is satisfied with that. The mayor is an
ethical guy and he was elected by people who knew of his interests, so
he feels he can be trusted to vote independently of his sizeable
personal interests. At first blush, they both seem to have made good
arguments.<br>
<br>
But ethics is not just about laws -- ethics laws provide minimum
requirements. And the electorate didn't specifically say they felt the
mayor should be able to vote on issues that directly affect his
personal business interests. Furthermore, a mayor should be an ethical
leader, showing other officials how to act in situations such as this.
He knows it's not an issue of personal character. And to the extent it
is, there's no better way to show you're a man of high character than
to recuse yourself when it looks as if you may be voting in your
personal interest.<br>
<br>
The city attorney has spoken on the law, the mayor has spoken on who he
thinks he is, but Public Citizen's Smith is the only person who has
approached the situation as an ethical issue. The lesson here is:
Always suspect anyone who approaches an ethical issue purely in terms
of law or in terms of character. Law and character are only two of many
aspects that go into making ethical decisions.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>