The Use of Subordinates as Means and Benefitting a Personal Interest
According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11trooper.html" target="”_blank”">an
article in today's New York Times</a> and in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/10/lawmakers-emerge-from-ses_n_13…; target="”_blank”">yesterday's
Huffington Post</a>, the investigator charged by Alaska's Legislative
Committee, before Sarah Palin was even being considered as a vice
presidential candidate, found in <a href="http://download1.legis.state.ak.us/DOWNLOAD.pdf" target="”_blank”">a report</a>
that, among other things, Gov. Palin abused her power by violating the
following provision of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act:<br>
<br>
<div>The legislature reaffirms that each
public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to
benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a
violation of that trust.<br>
</div>
<br>
The most important language in the report is as follows:<br>
<br>
<div>Such impermissible and repeated
contacts create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who
must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that
superior’s displeasure and the possible consequences of that
displeasure.<br>
</div>
<br>
The pesonal benefit involved was the firing of Palin's brother-in-law,
a state police officer named Wooten, who was in the midst of a messy
divorce with Palin's sister.<br>
<br>
I would like to emphasize something said by the public safety
commissioner, who oversaw the state police, in an interview last night:<br>
<br>
<div>I was resisting the governor from the
very beginning on the Wooten matter to protect her from exactly what
just happened to her here, being found to have acted inappropriately.<br>
</div>
<br>
Too often, conflicts of interest are about officials acting selfishly,
putting their own self-interest ahead of the public interest. But worse
than this is putting subordinates in a position where they might be
fired for putting the public interest first, or for trying to get their
superior to act appropriately. This is what happened to the public
safety commissioner, and this is what might have happened to the
governor's subordinates had they refused to do her bidding.<br>
<br>
This is government by fear. It's not about public trust, it's about
treating people with dignity, about not using people as means. This is
a different problem than conflicts of interest, and arguably a more
serious one. It undermines democracy in a more insidious and deeper
way. And it is usually not an isolated instance, but part of a pattern,
as I discussed in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/506" target="”_blank”">a
recent blog entry</a> about Gov. Palin. People who use others as means
cannot take No as an answer, can often not even see the public interest
in a particular situation, because their personal goal is the only end
they see. It might be the best thing, but it is often achieved in the
wrong way and for the wrong reasons. And worst of all, it corrupts
others.<br>
<br>
It is one thing to be corrupt. It is inexcusable to corrupt others,
especially through fear. This is not how power in a democracy should be
used or, as the report says, abused.<br>
<br>
We are fortunate to have this message come across through association
with someone so much in the public eye. Unfortunately, the situation
itself is being abused for political purposes. The worst response came
from Palin's attorney:<br>
<br>
<div>In order to violate the ethics law,
there has to be some personal gain, usually financial. Mr. Branchflower [the investigator]
has failed to identify any financial gain.<br>
</div>
<br>
The ethics act clearly refers to "personal or financial interest." And
in any event, how could anyone argue that it is okay to use
subordinates to get personal revenge on someone? Financial gain may be
central to criminal corruption, but not to ethics (although sadly too
many local governments define a conflict of interest solely in
financial terms). This is another great opportunity here: to see how
corrupting <span>personal</span> interests
can be. Maybe local governments will take notice of this.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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