I traded emails with a friend this week who, upon reading some of my lamentations of unethical behavior among Scottsdale politicians, said, “We need regulations requiring government to have/abide by ethics.”
My response:
We have an “ethics ordinance” in Scottsdale. I have filed two complaints under its provisions, to no avail.
For the second complaint, the retired judge who heard the case “…agreed that their requests violated an administrative provision of the ethics code. However, because the violation is only of an “administrative” provision, rather than a “mandatory” requirement, he recommended dismissal.” [Ethics, What Ethics?]
Since the complaint was against the mayor, naturally the ordinance was never amended to give it teeth.
There is no substitute for voters paying attention!
Of course that last statement channels one of my favorite quotes from Plato.
However, I stumbled across another quote this morning that sums up my feelings on ethics in far fewer words that I used:
But Integrity has no need of rules.
Albert Camus, 1913-1960, Algerian-born French philosopher, Nobel laureate and early practitioner of absurdism: Exploring the fundamental “conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any.” [Wikipedia]
4 Comments
There are never “Rules” for those who Rule.
Another “Quote of the Day!”
Is there any money in it?
Regarding the statement, “We need regulations requiring government to have/abide by ethics.” and moreso the fact that, in this case, Scottsdale actually has an “ethics ordinance” – is a sad commentary on politics in general. It’s shameful that we need an ordinance to try to keep our elected officials behaving ethically. Politicians should have a strong, innate desire to be ethical, fair, and dedicated.