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Above the Law Is Well Below Ethics
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Robert Wechsler
How a big-city police chief responds to his commission of an ethics violation is more
important than the violation itself. The worst thing he can do is act as if he is above the law, as if ethics laws, not to mention ethics
considerations, do not apply to him.
Sadly, Miami's police chief, John Timoney, has done the wrong thing almost every time he had the opportunity.
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
When a local television station disclosed that, for several months, he had been driving a $50,000 Lexus SUV as a gift from a local dealership, his first move was to deny it and say that he was leasing the car. What he should have done is to acknowledge that he had done something wrong, immediately pay the dealership what it would have cost to lease the car, and offer to pay whatever fine the ethics commission would require for his failure to disclose the gift he had received.
When the television station pointed out that the car had a dealer plate on it, and that it is illegal to lease a car with a dealer plate, the police chief said that he was leasing another SUV, and simply test-driving the other one, because he is thinking of buying one. Test-driving a car for several months? Did he really think he could get away with this story? Apparently.
When this story didn't satisfy anyone, he bought the SUV because, he said, of the perception of wrongdoing. He still could not admit that he had actually done something wrong by accepting a sizable gift and not following the disclosure requirements.
His next story was that he was not aware of the disclosure requirements. A strange thing to hear from a law enforcement officer, who knows that ignorance of the law is not a defense. He still did not admit that he had done anything wrong.
The result of the police chief's refusal to admit wrongdoing has included a vote of no-confidence from the police union, an investigation by the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel (which he refused to appear before), an investigation requested by the Miami City Commission; an investigation and reprimand from the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and the Public Trust; and an investigation and finding of probable cause by the State Ethics Commission.
And now, at last, after this enormous expenditure of time and money, the police chief has finally admitted that he had done something wrong, but only in return for an agreement by the prosecuting attorney for the State Ethics Commission that he would only have to pay a $500 fine and would not be reprimanded. The State Ethics Commission has not yet approved this bargain, and I hope it will choose not to.
Police Chief John Timoney has taken his city, county, and state governments for a ride, and not in the plush surroundings of a luxury SUV. He has sent a message to every government official in Florida that ethical rules do not apply to him (and hence not to them either). He has done, or tried to do, a great deal of damage to the state's ethical environment.
He knew exactly what to do and say from the very beginning, and at every stage he chose, purely in his own personal interest, not to do or say it. He finally did say the right thing when it was in his personal interest to do so.
The police chief is a survivor, and he has set an example for others to follow if they want to survive an ethics violation, as well.
To read more about this story, click here, here, and here.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
Sadly, Miami's police chief, John Timoney, has done the wrong thing almost every time he had the opportunity.
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
When a local television station disclosed that, for several months, he had been driving a $50,000 Lexus SUV as a gift from a local dealership, his first move was to deny it and say that he was leasing the car. What he should have done is to acknowledge that he had done something wrong, immediately pay the dealership what it would have cost to lease the car, and offer to pay whatever fine the ethics commission would require for his failure to disclose the gift he had received.
When the television station pointed out that the car had a dealer plate on it, and that it is illegal to lease a car with a dealer plate, the police chief said that he was leasing another SUV, and simply test-driving the other one, because he is thinking of buying one. Test-driving a car for several months? Did he really think he could get away with this story? Apparently.
When this story didn't satisfy anyone, he bought the SUV because, he said, of the perception of wrongdoing. He still could not admit that he had actually done something wrong by accepting a sizable gift and not following the disclosure requirements.
His next story was that he was not aware of the disclosure requirements. A strange thing to hear from a law enforcement officer, who knows that ignorance of the law is not a defense. He still did not admit that he had done anything wrong.
The result of the police chief's refusal to admit wrongdoing has included a vote of no-confidence from the police union, an investigation by the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel (which he refused to appear before), an investigation requested by the Miami City Commission; an investigation and reprimand from the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and the Public Trust; and an investigation and finding of probable cause by the State Ethics Commission.
And now, at last, after this enormous expenditure of time and money, the police chief has finally admitted that he had done something wrong, but only in return for an agreement by the prosecuting attorney for the State Ethics Commission that he would only have to pay a $500 fine and would not be reprimanded. The State Ethics Commission has not yet approved this bargain, and I hope it will choose not to.
Police Chief John Timoney has taken his city, county, and state governments for a ride, and not in the plush surroundings of a luxury SUV. He has sent a message to every government official in Florida that ethical rules do not apply to him (and hence not to them either). He has done, or tried to do, a great deal of damage to the state's ethical environment.
He knew exactly what to do and say from the very beginning, and at every stage he chose, purely in his own personal interest, not to do or say it. He finally did say the right thing when it was in his personal interest to do so.
The police chief is a survivor, and he has set an example for others to follow if they want to survive an ethics violation, as well.
To read more about this story, click here, here, and here.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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