Ethics Complaints and Commendations

Across the country, requests for citizen complaints provide not only for complaints, but also for commendations. I happened to notice one of these when I was in the nation's capital this weekend, and it got me wondering why this is not done with respect to government ethics complaints and hotline reports.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if ethics commissions were to ask citizens to file commendations regarding government officials' responsible handling of conflicts of interest situations? First, this would require the ethics commission to describe what it means to handle such situations responsibly, which is the core of government ethics, but is too often ignored. Second, this would emphasize that a healthy government ethics environment can be equally, or even better, created by the recognition of exemplary conduct than by enforcement against misconduct (even though the latter is also necessary).

And third, it could lead to more transparency if it were done right. By "done right," I mean that each elected and appointed official or high-level employee could be asked to choose whether or not he or she wanted to have both complaints and commendations kept confidential (at least, with complaints, up until a finding of sufficient or probable cause or, with commendations, for good) or to have both complaints and commendations made public (at least after the ethics commission staff determined whether they actually involved conflicts of interest or other areas under the commission's jurisdiction). Choosing confidentiality in this context would make it look like an official expected complaints rather than commendations.

Of course, there would be questionable commendations, just as there are questionable complaints. But these commendations too could be dismissed, either because they involved no government ethics issue or because there was no evidence that the commended conduct actually occurred or was actually responsible and, therefore, commendable. In any event, too many commendations is not a high price to pay for giving more attention to exemplary conduct.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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