Trusting Public Boards of Trustees in San Diego County

You know you're in trouble when a grand jury foreman says about you,
"They need an independent organization to be an oversight ..., not just
the grand jury doing it once every few years."<br>
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Of course, the "they" here are local government agencies:  five
community college districts in San Diego County, whose boards of
trustees are elected.<br>
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<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/473">Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.</a>
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According to <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080719-9999-1ez19jury.ht…; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's San Diego <i>Tribune</i></a>, the grand jury
recommended, among other things, that the districts establish a joint
ethics committee, place a cap on campaign contributions, and institute
term limits, in order to deal with what appears to be a history of
ethical and possibly criminal violations.<br>
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One district's board of trustees president feels that state laws and
agencies are sufficient.  Of the fourteen recommendations made by
the grand jury, this board has instituted three of them, and it has a
proposal before it to dismiss the other eleven. According to the
article, district officials said that most of the problems identified
by the grand jury can be found in other districts.  In other
words, Everybody's doing it!  An excellent ethical argument.<br>
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One trustee said that an ethics committee would be "just another layer
of bureaucracy." Another is concerned about the cost, even though it
would be a countywide committee.<br>
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There are dozens of arguments against ethics rules and oversight. To
find the principal argument in favor, all the trustees need to do is
focus on their title. But it's enough that they trust themselves, isn't
it?<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
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