Government itself is as capable of kindness goodness and charity as a more private society They weakly err that think there is no other use of government than correction which is the coarsest part of it daily experience tells us that the care and regulation of many other affair ID: 1020689
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1. Is there an Ethics Epidemic?[G]overnment itself . . . [is] as capable of kindness, goodness and charity as a more private society. They weakly err that think there is no other use of government than correction, which is the coarsest part of it; daily experience tells us that the care and regulation of many other affairs more soft and daily necessary make up much the greatest part of government . . . William Penn, Preface to the Frame of Government, 16821
2. Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. Ambrose Bierce, American journalist and writer (1842-1914?), from The Devil's Dictionary2
3. Florida Clerks of Court and ComptrollersIs there anEthics Epidemic?Winter ConferenceJacksonville, FloridaJanuary 30, 20143
4. The flip side of corruption is legislation against conflict of interest, which, while evidencing a higher level of moral sensibility, undertakes to substitute detailed rules and regulations for commonsense morality, thus making government service even less attractive and sometimes economically ruinous for honest civil servants. Herbert Simon, Donald Smithburg, and Victor Thompson, Public Administration, 1991, p. 84
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6. Nineteenth Statewide Grand JuryKey recommendations of the Statewide Grand Jury included:Expanding the definition of public employees to include private employees contracted by government entities that perform government services;Creating sentencing enhancements for offenses committed by officials who use their public position to facilitate their crimes;Creating an independent State Office of Inspector General, responsible for hiring and firing agency Inspectors General;Expanding definition of criminal bid tampering to include bid-rigging schemes; andAuthorizing the Ethics Commission to initiate investigations with a supermajority vote of commission members.6
7. Nineteenth Statewide Grand Jury7
8. [W]e are faced with a new reality in which the citizen has been reinvented into the customer; interest groups – broadly defined to include private-sector contractors, suppliers, and so on – have been redesignated stakeholders; and, most significantly, public servants have been recast in the mold of entrepreneurs.Louis C. Gawthrop, “Public Service and Democracy,” 1998, p. 188
9. Accountability : State Integrity InvestigationGrading the nation:How accountable is your state?A project of: The Center for Public Integrity Global integrity Public Radio InternationalStateIntegrity.orgMarch 19, 2012 Updated: January 14, 20139
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11. Study: says states need to do more to prevent risk of corruptionNew Jersey got the highest grade (87, a grade of B) in a national study measuring the risk of corruption in all 50 states. Florida ranked 18th, with an “integrity score” of 71, a grade of C-.The study, headed by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, used a set of more than 300 indicators in 14 categories to evaluate state laws, regulations and practices. Florida’s overall grade was “C-”. The state was given particularly high marks (As) in Internal Auditing and in Redistricting. But Florida Received Ds and Fs in 7 categories:Public Access to InformationPolitical FinancingJudicial AccountabilityState Civil Service ManagementLobbying DisclosureState Pension Fund ManagementEthics Enforcement Agencies11
12. Florida’s Poor Scores Included:Public Access to Information0% No agency that monitors the application of access to information laws and regulations, can independently initiate investigations, and can impose penalties.Political Financing0% No limits on donations to political parties, 0% No independent auditing of political parties, or of candidate campaign finances when irregularities are uncovered.0% Not preventing astroturfingJudicial Accountability0% No confirmation process for judges conducted by an independent body0% No judges’ performance evaluations are public0% No independent auditing of judges’ disclosure forms12
13. Florida’s Poor Scores Included:State Civil Service Management0% Nepotism and patronage0% Recusal from policy decisionsLobbying Disclosure0% Effective monitoring of lobbying disclosures0% Lobbyists employers/principals required to discloseState Pension Fund Management0% Financial disclosure of fund boards/managers are audited25% Pension fund protected from political interferenceEthics Enforcement Agencies0% For independently initiate investigations0% For evaluation of board members0% For accepting anonymous complaints0% For independent audits of disclosures13
14. In recent years, the federal government has responded to almost every new ethics scandal with yet another wave of ethics regulation. As the amount and the strictness of ethics rules have increased, commentators and officials have complained that these rules impose unnecessary restrictions.ABA Committee on Government Standards, Keeping Faith: Government Ethics & Government Ethics Regulation, 45 Admin. L. Rev. 287, 290 (1993)14
15. Public sector executives and policy-managers are fast becoming victims of information overload. At worst, the dos and don’ts of procedural ethics can very quickly compound into a supersaturated solution of obscure ambiguity. At best, the tour guides of ethics have become expert in guiding their audiences through the barrier reefs of “what can I do?” but they remain totally “in-expert,” if not woefully inept, in resolving the perennial question, What should I do? Louis C. Gawthrop, Public Service and Democracy, 1998, pp. 88-8915
16. Do ethics laws undermine ethics?The floor set by law or rule may be accepted as the norm, instead of the minimum standardThe more rules there are, the less one may be tempted to think about positive ethical behavior and instead focus on compliance - on “how to stay out of trouble”Burdensome or punitive rules may prompt people to minimize their adverse impact, thus increasing perverse behaviors and outcomes16
17. Third knight, Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot:But there is one thing I should like to say and I may as well say it at once. It is this: in what we have done, and whatever you may think of it, we have been perfectly disinterested (The other Knights say Hear Hear!) We are not getting anything out of this. We have much more to lose than to gain. We are four plain Englishmen who put our country first. . . When you come to the point, it does go against the grain to kill an Archbishop . . . So, as I said at the beginning, please give us at least the credit for being completely disinterested in this business.17
18. Number of Complaints Received by the Florida Commission on Ethics18
19. Complaints Dismissed 1998-201019
20. George Smiley, fictional public servant par excellence, advising his colleagues:be inhuman in the defense of our humanity, harsh in defense of compassion, and singleminded in defense of our disparity. John LeCarre’ The Honourable Schoolboy, 1979, p. 46120
21. Appearance of improprietyIn law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so. Immanuel Kant21
22. Is there an ethics epidemic?I will argue that there is not, butEthics rules are more stringentEnforcement is more rigorousEthics, as a topic of study and discussion, has moved to the front burner22
23. Convictions for Public Corruption Offenses23
24. Ethics reform in Florida: Next steps for legislators, lobbyistsGive the Commission on Ethics authority to initiate investigations. Increase the maximum penalty for ethics violations from $10,000 to $25,000 (Integrity Florida) or $100,000 (Statewide Grand Jury).Give job protection to state agency inspectors general. Create an independent State Office of Inspector General to make hiring decisions.Adopt the federal standards for lobbying disclosure. Florida Trend, December 4, 201324
25. The men who had to organize the state and federal governments from 1780 to 1790 found nothing in the books of their time to guide them. . . . Fortunately much of the administrative art is synonymous with common sense, sound judgment, initiative, and courage -- homely virtues that were doubtless as readily at hand then as now. Leonard White, The Federalists, 1948, p.47825
26. I am only one, butstill, I am one. I cannotdo everything but I cando something. And,because I cannot doeverything, I will notrefuse to do what I can. Edward Everett Hale, American clergyman and writer (1822-1909)26