Ethics Commission Meetings -- Passivity Doesn't Cut It
How often should ethics commissions meet?<br>
<br>
The usual answer to that question is, As often as they need to. But how
often is that?<br>
<br>
That depends on their responsibilities. If all they do is respond to
complaints and requests for advisory opinions, then they need only meet
when they receive one or the other.<br>
<br>
But what about ethics training? Even if they are not required to train
or oversee training of local government officials and employees, they
need to be trained themselves.<br>
<br>
And even if they have no obligation to train, don't they have an
obligation to let officials, employees, contractors, developers, and
the public know they exist and what they and the ethics code are all
about? Promotion is the life blood of any endeavor.<br>
<br>
And if they are allowed to bring their own complaints, they need to
discuss what is happening in their local government, and determine
whether it is worthy of an investigation.<br>
<br>
They might also discuss possible improvements to the code.<br>
<br>
What started me thinking about this was <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1334146.html" target="”_blank”">an
article in the </a><span><a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1334146.html" target="”_blank”">Star-Telegram</a>
</span>about Fort Worth's Ethics Review Committee, which hasn't met in
five years. That means there are probably people on the ERC that have
never attended a single meeting, who probably don't even think of
themselves as involved with government ethics, other than adding a line
to their resumes.<br>
<br>
The mayor certainly doesn't think of himself as involved with
government ethics. The article quotes him as saying that the ERC is
"just not something I spend a lot of time on." See <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/436" target="”_blank”">an earlier blog entry</a> on
why he might not want to think of them very often.<br>
<br>
The city attorney also seems to be satisfied with the way things are.
The article quotes him as saying, "In practice, regular quarterly
meetings have not been held. Instead, the committee has met
on an as-needed basis to hear formal filed complaints. There are no
sanctions in the ordinance for not having quarterly meetings." No
sanctions, no meetings, that's an ethical point of view.<br>
<br>
So, guess who fills the ethics vacuum. Yes, the city attorney. See <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/436" target="”_blank”">my earlier blog entry</a>,
where the Fort Worth city attorney says the mayor has no conflict of
interest. Who needs an ethics commission?<br>
<br>
Every local government needs to have an ongoing body devoted to ethics.
If no one is asking it for opinions or bringing complaints, its members
should have the sophistication to realize this is not because there are
no ethics issues in town. And they should try to do something about it.
Passivity is not a responsible approach to ethics.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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