The Legal Language May Be About Benefits, But It's Really About Trust
One can learn a
lot about local government (and judicial) ethics by listening to local
officials talk about a conflict situation
they're in. Here's one from Dallas County, where
the district attorney's wife is a political
consultant for the campaigns of seven judges before whom the D.A.'s
office
practices.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories…; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's Dallas <i>Morning News</i></a>, <span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">the State Commission on Judicial Conduct gave a
green light to these relationships before they happened. So the judges
are officially off the hook.<br>
<br>
But listen to what the director of the commission said: </span></span><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">"as long as there's no
tit for
tat – the candidates getting something from [the D.A.] because they
hired
his wife – there isn't a problem. 'It shouldn't be an issue unless
something else is at play.'"<br>
<br>
In other words, district attorneys and their families can have any
relationship they want with judges as long as the judges don't get
something out of it (except, presumably, the D.A.'s political support).
<span></span>The corollary to this is
that it's fine if the D.A. and his family get something out of it, and
appearances don't matter.<br>
<br>
The judicial conduct director offered a simple disclosure solution to appearance
problems: </span></span><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">the judges need only tell defense attorneys that
the D.A.'s wife is their political
consultant. How many defense attorneys are going to (or at least want
to) demand recusal, especially if the particular judge is not one of
their first choices?<br>
<br>
More important, how many defendants are going to feel the system is
rigged against them?<br>
<br>
One of the judges who hired the D.A.'s wife said that the wife </span></span>keeps
her marriage and working relationship with her husband separate from
her business. "She's Craig's wife, and I never even think of it. I talk
to her every
day and I never think of it. It would bother me if I felt
like she was using her husband."<br>
<br>
Why would she have to "use" her husband for there to be a conflict?
Using your husband's position to get work can create a conflict. But
it's not government work the wife was seeking, there's no contract with
the government itself, so in this case it isn't going to be something
covered by a local government ethics code.<br>
<br>
But a judge talking to the D.A.'s wife every day is a serious problem,
at least in the perception of others who come before the court. In this
sense, it is more a judicial ethics problem than a government ethics
problem.<br>
<br>
According to the article, the D.A.'s wife "dismissed concerns over her
consulting role with judges as simple
ranting from political opponents. She said that few people question the
ethics of defense lawyers who give campaign dollars to sitting judges.
'Why would people think I would
jeopardize everything Craig and I have worked hard for to get a few
dollars?'"<br>
<br>
The D.A. himself is quoted as saying, <span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">"I'm the DA,
which has nothing to do with her job. It has
nothing to do with how I'm going to prosecute a case." Again, what is
the relevance of how the D.A. would prosecute a case? Having a judge
who is a business associate of his wife will help him, or be seen as
helping him, no matter how he prosecutes his cases.<br>
<br>
All the parties involved are concerned about who might benefit, which is how ethics laws are written. But they should know that what underlies the talk of benefits is trust in the system, something none of them considers. Is it really too much to ask that a D.A.'s campaign consultant spouse work only for candidates before whom her husband's office will never try a case?<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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