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2 . Appearance of Impropriety <br />Because we cannot know the character or motivations of those who manage our <br />communities, and because we cannot know how much their personal obligations affect their <br />decisions, we can judge them, and hold them accountable, only by their actions and their <br />relationships as they appear on their face. <br />In other words, in governinent ethics, appearances are what inatters most. <br />Motivations, feelings, and character are irrelevant. <br />This is difficult f'or most bovernment officials to understand, because what they see <br />when they look at themselves is their motivations, feelings, and character, all those things <br />that are invisible to their communitv. Because officials see their ethical decision-making <br />from the inside and the public sees it from the outside, the best way for an official to handle <br />a conflict situation responsibly is to describe his situation to a neutral observer, to a <br />government ethics adviser if possible, to see how the conduct would appear to others. <br />Because how a situation appears to the public is so iinportant, and no law can <br />responsibly deal with the appearance of iinpropriety in enforceable provisions, government <br />ethics laws are only minimuin guidelines. What this means is that a government official who <br />has a relationship with soineone involved in a matter that has coine before him needs to <br />recognize that, even though this relationship is not covered by an ethics code provision, a <br />failure to handle this conflict situation responsibly has the same effect on the public in terms <br />of their trust as it would were the situation covered by the ethics code. For example, if an <br />ethics provision does not prohibit an official from helping his sister-in-law get a contract, <br />that doesn't mean he should help bet her the contract. He should seek advice about what to <br />do, even if participating in the contract process is legal. <br />This is why ethics advice is so important. Ethics advice is not limited by laws. It can <br />take into account the appearance of impropriety. Enforcement, on the other hand, cannot. <br />As for the public, what is difficult is recobnizing that much conduct that appears <br />improper, such as incivility, lying, love affairs, or drug use, is outside the province of a <br />bovernment ethics program. Government ethics programs are lunited to dealing with <br />conflicts of interest. <br />