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2. Obstacles to Government Ethics Programs, and How to Overcome Them <br />1. I�norance and Incom�etence - the biggest obstacle to everything; can be <br />overcome by ethics training and professional ethics advice <br />2. Blind s�ots - see the list above; can also be overcome by ethics training and <br />professional advice <br />3. Fear - officials' fear of being victimized by an independent ethics program; <br />officials need to be shown that an ethics program is best for them and for the <br />community, and is fair <br />4. Mis�laced lo,�t� - loyalty to supervisors, leaders, and party rather than to the <br />coinmunity; loyalty provides an alternative set of values and rules, with a <br />different sort of ethics training and ad�-ice <br />5. Intimidation - the enforcement side of loyalty, ensures loyalty and secrecy and <br />employees' fear of retaliation if they report misconduct; can be partially <br />overcome by whistleblower protection, but the best solution is for individuals <br />to stand up for those being targeted <br />6. Politicization of the ethics �rocess - through selection of ethics commission <br />members, partisan ethics complaints, and partisan rancor over ethics issues; <br />can be partially overcome by a truly independent ethics program <br />7. Confusion of �erson and office - identifying oneself and other individuals with <br />the office they happen to be holding; the basis for nepotism, cronyism, and <br />patronage; this confusion can be dispelled by leadership and good training <br />8. Demand for retribution - the public and press's emphasis on punishment when <br />officials are found to have violated an ethics provision skews ethics programs <br />toward enforcement and leads to officials' fears; can be overcome by <br />educating officials, the public, and the press <br />9. Demand for ex�ertise on boards - overvaluing expertise on boards leads to the <br />appointment and election of individuals with many conf7icts; can be overcome <br />by using experts as advisers rather than board members <br />10. Earmarks and slush funds - they call out f'or abuse; prohibit them or provide <br />external oversibht <br />1 L Pet charities - charities associated with local politicians lead to an unusual <br />zs <br />