2014_1112_Ethics Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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community it inanages. From the point of view of citizens, when an official has a cont�ict, does not disclose it, and does not withdraw from participating in the matter, he may purport to be acting as an official, but if it comes out, he will be seen as being a concealed agent of whoever it is he has a special relationship with. He will be seen as selfish and untrustworthy. And, more important, the governinent that does not insist on him dealing responsibly with his conflict will be seen as a bunch of people who are in it for themselves and their family and friends. In other words, government ethics is less about the indi�ridual than it is about the government itsel£ If the public's trust in one official was all that was undermined, it wouldn't matter that much. But if there is not a stronb ethics probram, the entire bovernment-cominunity relationship suffers from the misconduct of one official. And, as everyone knows, it is rarely onlv one official who is at fault. There are also those who enable and those who know about the conflict, but say and do nothing. Two Kinds of Conflict There are two principal ways in which conflicts occur: they are either pre-existinb or created by events. There is nothing wronb per se �vith pre-existing conflicts based on personal or business relationships. Everyone has them, especially in smaller commtu�ities. These relationships become problematic only when a matter involving a family member or business associate comes before an official, or before someone the official can influence. For exainple, an of$ciaP s law firm represents a contractor. This is okay until the official has to deal with, or is in a position to influence, the draftinb, awardinb, or supervision of a contract the contractor has or wants. When this happens, there is a conflict situation with which the official has to deal responsibly. This is done by following the procedures required by her local government's ethics program, usuallv involving disclosure of the conflict and withdrawal from participation in the contract inatter, that is, letting soineone else, or the rest of the board, deal with the contract. It is an official's duty not to work on the specifications of a contract that might be awarded to a contractor represented by her law $rm, not because she can't be trusted doinb an honest job (how can anyone know this?), but because she owes it to the public to deal with the conf7ict situation responsibly, that is, in a manner that will preserve the public's