A Vote for Ethics

Well, “Corruption County” has spoken – 72% of the voters voted “yes” to the Ethics Amendment in my county, which means that “every city, town, and village” in Palm Beach County “will be under the jurisdiction of the Commission on Ethics and Independent Inspector General’s” Office. “All elected officials” and county and city employees “will have to abide by the new county ethics ordinance, which prohibits officials from using public offices to benefit themselves, their family members, and their businesses”.

This is cause for celebration! Certainly it is a good start for a county that has sent three county commissioners to prison and has another who has pleaded guilty to felony extortion. In the next step, a committee will recommend necessary ordinances. I particularly liked what Jamie Titcomb, executive director of the Palm Beach County League of Cities, in advocating for a uniform ethics policy for the entire county, said, “It’s kind of like why people go to church every Sunday. It’s not that they don’t know the stuff; they need to be reminded of the message and the agreed [upon] standards.” It seems that civic and business groups have been responsible for pushing hard for these initiatives. I will look forward to seeing the progress that these groups can make.

In particular, I look forward to seeing how ethical behavior is defined – How will the committees decide which ordinances should be included, what the policies should be? What process will they use to ensure that people in public service both get the message and carry out the public welfare with integrity? Will they reach beyond law (everyone, after all, should know the law and follow it) into challenging people to operate optimally from a place of values? To avoid grey areas? How will they decide what values should be included, and what it will look like to fully incorporate those values? What processes or structures will they urge municipalities to incorporate in order to ensure that everyone gets the message? How will they fund these new structures and processes?

Business research offers evidence that without changing corporate culture to one centered on values that are demonstrated from the top down and infused into every part of the company, ethical infractions will continue and dysfunctional workplaces will persist. It seems that merely making rules or hiring lawyers to inform on laws and regulations ensures only that people do the minimum to get by rather than aiming for what’s optimal. When employees observe their leaders doing the minimum, they do likewise, getting away with as much as they can.

Will government learn from this research and realize the need to change its culture so that the mandate has teeth and so that its employees will gain the public trust? Will they ensure that government leaders pursue an onward and upward journey to discovering and living out the values expressed in the county’s ethics code? Will they institute the opportunities for discussion and training that encourage employees to consider how best to live out these values in the workplace and to make ethical decisions when more difficult dilemmas occur? Ethics training is currently required in my city. However, the hour a year that is currently funded is unlikely to change people’s values or behavior. Passing the Amendment was a great first step. Educating and supporting people in living it to its fullest will require ongoing reflection, conversation, training, and incentives.
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1 All information from Swan, R. The voters really got it. The Palm Beach Post, Thursday, November 11, 2010.