Superior Handling of a Conflict Matter

Too many of my blog entries look at instances where things did not go
right. One reason is that when things do go right, no one talks about
them. Another reason is that so often ethics problems are not handled
very well.<br>
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So it's nice to read about the proper handling of a conflict situation
in Superior, Wisconsin. I suppose when you live in a town with this
name, your aspirations are greater than most cities'.<br>
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<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/461">Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.</a>
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According to <a href="http://www.superiortelegram.com/account/index.cfm?user=login&return_pag…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Superior <span>Daily
Telegram</span></a>, a city council member, who is also business
manager for a local labor union, presented an ordinance requiring
project labor agreements on all sizeable city projects. The city
attorney cautioned council members about the possible conflict of
interest, and the council decided to table the ordinance.  The
district attorney was consulted, and he found the conflict "obvious."
He recommended that the council member discuss the conflict with
private counsel and/or the city attorney.  He added, "This
situation may present an opportunity for training for the City Council
on the conflict of interest prohibitions in the statutes."<br>
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It does seem a bit excessive to bring in the district attorney, because
nothing criminal was done.  But, since Superior does not appear to
have an ethics commission or any other clear enforcement or advisory
procedure, the right thing was to table the ordinance and get a neutral
opinion before anything was done. The next thing to do is to set up a
formal process.<br>
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Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
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