Involving Criminal Authorities Extends the Run of an Ethics Drama
According to <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/33545244.html" target="”_blank”">an
article in the Minneapolis-St. Paul <span>Star
Tribune</span></a> this week, the lame-duck mayor of Northfield, MN,
home of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges, has been charged with five
counts of misconduct by a public official and two counts of conflict of
interest under the town's <a href="http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13439&sid=23" target="”_blank”">ethics
code</a> (there is no ethics commission; instead, violations are
misdemeanors, which are prosecuted, in this case by the county
attorney's office).<br>
<br>
The principal actions of the mayor, a weak mayor in a council-manager
form, involved pushing the town manager to favor the mayor's property
for the placement of a town liquor store, failing to disclose his
interest, and withholding a study that showed that his property was the
least financially viable of those being considered. The council asked
the mayor to step down last December, after an investigator produced <a href="http://locallygrownnorthfield.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/FinalRepor…; target="”_blank”">his
findings</a>, but he refused. This fall, the mayor came in sixth out of
seven in the mayoral primary.<br>
<br>
Clearly, the people of Northfield are far ahead of the town's ethics
code. To pay for a special investigation, followed nearly a year later
by criminal charges, when an ethics commission could have had this
matter dealt with a year ago is not only a waste of time and money, but
also undermines people's trust in government. The new mayor and council
should get to work on a new ethics code that provides for an ethics
commission with teeth, rather than depending on county attorneys who
have better things to do, as well as possible relationships with mayors
and town managers involved in such matters.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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