Palm Beach County Business Coalition Gets Government Ethics

The business coalition in Palm Beach County (FL) really gets it. One reason is that City Ethics' Carla Miller has provided advice. The coalition consists of Leadership Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County Business Forum, the Palm Beach County Economic Council, and the Voters Coalition. Its positions are best stated in a short essay available at the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County site.

The coalition understands that no amount of legal or institutional reform will change the culture of a county where three former commissioners were convicted of crimes against the people they were supposed to serve. They realize that the culture itself needs to be changed. The essay recognizes that "culture is created in organizations by an agreement on a vision, mission, a set of values and senior management’s support and reinforcement of those values."

Toward that end, they developed an Ethics Pledge very loosely based on the ancient Athenian Oath. The goal is to have all government officials and employees, as well as citizens, sign the pledge. I don't think citizens need to sign something designed for public servants, but it's good for them to be aware of it. The Pledge is a short set of basic ethics provisions (conflict, disclosure, misuse of office) and aspirational goals such as civility and respect, truth-telling and promise-keeping.

There's more that can be done to change a government's culture, but the principal ingredient is ethical leadership, which has to be provided from within. It might be useful for some business leaders to run for the county commission, in order to provide the right sort of ethical leadership up front, to show the way for future commissioners and other officials.

The other goal of the business coalition involves ensuring an independent enforcement mechanism. It proposes "a new and independent countywide Commission on Ethics and Public Trust comprised of five Commissioners .. The independence of these individuals is critical and we have specific proposals to assure that those appointed remain free of undue influence from the entities being overseen. The appointment process and a sufficient budget are key issues. A primary duty would be to accept applications, hire, supervise, and oversee a new countywide Inspector General."

Recognizing that independence is not only about appointment, the coalition lists possible revenue sources to ensure that the EC and IG are sufficiently funded:

Potential sources of revenue to fund the initial start-up and sustain the operations of the Commission and Inspector General could come from a combination of potential sources (Annual lobbyist registration fee; Residual funds of Commissioner discretionary funds; ¼ of 1% or appropriate surcharge on all or certain purchases or contracts for goods or services entered into by any covered entity; An amount certain or assessment from general operating funds paid by each covered agency; Amounts recovered as a result of investigations and recoveries; Charges for advisory opinions and ethics training services; etc.)

The EC's other principal duties are three, and the emphasis is excellent:  drafting an ethics code, training and advisory opinions, and a hotline and "other tools designed to promote ethical conduct."

What is especially surprising and welcome is the coalition's uncompromising support of independent ethics enforcement. The coalition threatens to take its vision of an ethics program to the people in a referendum next year if the county commission does not support charter changes to implement an adequate and independent ethics program.

For more information on the coalition's recommendations and others' reactions to them, see an article in yesterday's Sun-Sentinel, a Sun-Sentinel article from two months ago, and a Palm Beach Post editorial that called for what the coalition has done.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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