The Worthlessness of Toothless Ethics Commissions

There's a lot of talk among government ethics practitioners about how important it is for ethics commissions to have teeth, that is, the ability to at least reprimand and fine government officials for ethics violations. Requiring council approval of ethics recommendations brings elected officials into the ethics process and politicizes it. And politicizing an ethics program undermines its goal of gaining the public's trust in elected officials to govern for the public, not for themselves and their families, friends, and business and political associates.

However, there's not a whole lot of evidence to show that all this is true. One reason is that few people bother to make complaints to toothless ethics commissions. And when such complaints are made, they are usually politically motivated.

So thanks go to the New Britain (CT) common council for showing how worthless a toothless ethics commission can be.

According to an article in the New Britain Herald last week, although the city's ethics commission voted unanimously (three Republicans, two Democrats) that a council member had violated the city's ethics code (a conflict issue), the council voted 13-2 not to accept the commission's recommendation, splitting on party lines (Democrats in the great majority).

The complaint was brought by a council member who happens to be the minority (Republican) leader on the council. Did I say something about toothless ethics commissions getting primarily politically-motivated (even if sometimes valid) complaints?

Would any normal citizen bring a complaint to this ethics commission? Well, the Democratic chair of the ethics commission (himself the mayor from 1977-1989) doesn't seem to think so, because he resigned immediately after the common council's vote was taken. And he did this not for partisan reasons, but out of disgust with his own party and for the ethics program its members had created.

The ethics chair said in his letter of resignation, "I was cautioned by those who know better than I that service on that commission would be a tedious waste of time, since its recommendations are blithely and routinely ignored. ... The Ethics Commission ... is apparently past its sell-by date. It is time to take it off the shelf and put it out at the curb."

One of the council members known for his interest in ethics reform noted the politicization of the ethics process and said, "I think it’s ridiculous to have cities try to regulate their own ethics. This is something the state should be doing."

Cities can regulate their own ethics, but only if they have independent ethics commissions that have teeth, something few cities or towns in Connecticut (my state) have. This is why I'm in favor of moving the local government ethics process to the state level here. It's being considered for the umpteenth time. Hopefully, antics like the New Britain common council's will help get a bill passed in the state legislature.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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