Standards of Proof in Ethics Enforcement

Anonymous

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 06:00

City Related

The standard of proof for determining whether an ethical violation
occurred has become an issue in Louisiana's ethics reform. After
looking at several local government ethics codes, as well as the
ethics codes of the states that have jurisdiction over local government
officials, I don't think standards of proof have become enough
of an issue in most jurisdictions. 
 
According to <a href="http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/OPIN…; target="”_blank”">a
recent
editorial in the Shreveport Times</a>,
the new Louisiana ethics reform required a "reliable and substantial"
standard for proving ethics violations (essentially a "preponderance of
the evidence" standard). A state senator, who is a former judge,
successfully proposed an amendment raising the standard to "clear and
convincing evidence," which is somewhere between preponderance and the
criminal standard,
"beyond a reasonable doubt." The ethics board administrator, the Public
Affairs Research Council and other good government groups felt that
this stronger standard would weaken the enforceability of the reforms. 
 
The <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/mc/full" target="”_blank”">City Ethics Model Municipal Code</a> recommends a "preponderance of the
evidence" standard for the probable cause phase, and a "clear and
convincing" standard for the final determination of whether a
violation has occurred. 
 
However, more important even than the particular standard used is
clearly
stating what the standard of proof is. The Public
Affairs Research Council of Louisiana did <a href="http://www.la-par.org/article.cfm?id=231&cateid=2" target="”_blank”">a survey of
the 39 states </a>that have ethics commissions (29 responded).
What they found in their survey is surprisingly very different from
what I found when I went directly to the state ethics codes and
regulations. 
 
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/452">Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.</a>
 
 
The Council reports that 18 states use a "preponderance of the
evidence" standard or less; 9 use a "clear and convincing"
standard; and 2 a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. 
 
First of all, the Council ignored the fact that in most jurisdictions
there is a two-step process: a finding of probable cause and a finding
of violation. The standard of proof for a finding of probable
cause
is almost always less than that for a finding of violation. The likely
reason that so many states told the Council their standard is a
"preponderance of the evidence" is that they don't have any standard
for a finding of violation, and "preponderance" is a common standard
(or a common interpretation of the standard) for the probable cause
phase. Louisiana, on the other hand,
does not have a probable cause phase. 
 
That explains one reason why my study gave such different results as
the Council's survey. But what explains the fact that most states have
no
standard for findings of violation? Of 17 states that have
jurisdiction over local government officials, I could not find any
standard of proof for findings of violation in 11, and in 3 others
findings of violation are made elsewhere than the ethics structure.
That means that only 3 of
these states have clearly stated standards of proof:
Pennsylvania's
"clear and convincing proof" (which appears in regulations, not in the
statute), West Virginia's "beyond a reasonable doubt" (under Sanctions
rather than Final Decision), and Rhode Island's clear placing of the
burden on those who allege violations, who must prove a "knowing and
willful violation," which is almost impossible. 
 
In the second "beyond a reasonable doubt" state, Alabama,
I could not find any stated standard of proof for the second phase of
the ethics process, but since most violations are
at least misdemeanors to be tried by criminal authorities, it might
be assumed that "beyond a reasonable doubt" would be the standard for
the criminal trial. But
minor violations are dealt with by the Alabama Ethics Commission, and
there is
no stated standard of proof for these. 
 
As for the probable cause phase, the usual standard of proof is nothing
but "probable cause." This is a commonly used standard of proof, but
only in the criminal context. It can be found in the Fourth Amendment,
and it is the standard by which a police officer has the right to make
an arrest or conduct a search. 
The U.S. Supreme Court in <a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vo…; target="”_blank”">Illinois v. Gates</a>, 462 U.S. 213
(1983), lowered the threshold of probable cause by ruling that a "fair
probability" of criminal activity being found could establish probable
cause for the issuance of a search warrant. A preponderance of the
evidence is not required. 

"Probable cause" is often defined as a "reasonable belief that a
crime has been committed," but this does not mean more probable than
not or "preponderance of the evidence." In fact, in a search warrant
context, there is very little evidence available. It's not a
particularly evidentiary standard. But it does create the appearance of
due process for quasi-criminal ethics proceedings. 

I would bet that the legislators who used the term "probable cause"
meant a "preponderance of evidence," but used the term "probable
cause," because that is what they found in other ethics codes and
because of the appearance of Fourth Amendment due process the term
provides. It might seem like a good standard of proof, but when a
layperson (and ethics codes are, after all, intended primarily for
laypeople) looks up the term, he or she will be confused. What
does an ethics complaint have to do with searches or arrests? 

Here are the statistics: of 17 states that have jurisdiction
over local government officials, 2 do not make a probable cause
determination; 6 use a "probable cause" standard; 4 use a "reasonable
grounds" or "reasonable cause" standard; and the other five employ a
variety of standards: probable cause and sufficient evidence to
believe, just and sufficient cause, preponderance of the evidence (yes,
just one state), information sufficient to make a preliminary finding,
and (for criminal referrals only) probable cause to believe a knowing
and willful violation. 

As for the 12 major cities I looked at, 4 do not make a probable
cause determination; 3 use a "probable cause" standard; and the rest
employ a variety of standards: alleging facts sufficient to constitute
a violation, reasonable basis or cause for believing, cause to believe,
and two partly contradictory standards in one city: believe or
entertain a strong suspicion as well as evidence sufficient to cause to
believe. For the violation phase, 7 do not state a standard of proof; 2
use a "clear and convincing evidence" standard; 3 use a "preponderance
of the evidence" standard; and one uses a "supported by at least some
evidence that is admissible" standard. 

The failure to provide a standard of proof for the violation phase
in most jurisdictions places all of the emphasis on the vote of the
ethics board or commission, as if they too need no guidance in terms of
the proof required. 

Ethics codes are intended primarily to give guidance. The
guidance they're intended to give is primarily about ethical conduct,
but when it comes to enforcement, shouldn't there also be guidance, for
those with possible complaints, for those against whom complaints are
brought, and for those who have to make decisions with respect to them? 

When the Public Affairs Research Council did its survey, none of the
states said "I don't know." And only two of them used the term
"probable cause." This means that the ethics enforcement agency
in these states believed that their standards of proof were different
from what was stated in their statutes and regulations. This is a
serious due process problem, and I believe it deserves as much
attention as has been given in Louisiana to determining what the
standard of proof should be. 
 
Robert Wechsler 
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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