Defining Ethics

Government officials, elected and appointed, and those who interact with government, are expected to conduct themselves in an ethical manner. Defining "ethical" may be a challenge.

 

A. Ethics as Conduct or Behavior

Ethics may be conduct or behavior relating to things such as ex parte communications among members of planning and zoning boards and applicants, [FN1] assurances given to applicants by individual board members prior to a public meeting, or the sharing of otherwise confidential information with those not a party to the issue at hand.

 

B. Ethics as Morals or Values

Ethics may also be defined as morals or values which include the ability to make determinations between right and wrong. One troublesome aspect of viewing ethical conduct in this regard is that the public will judge the extremes of right and wrong through community standards which may change from time to time and may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It becomes a subjective issue of what the community is willing to tolerate, and less of a self-inquiry by the official taking the action into what their own value system dictates.

 

C. Conflicts of Interest

Ethics may be more readily defined through conflicts of interest situations, particularly where there is potential for personal financial gain. Conflicts of interest situations may arise in dozens of scenarios including pecuniary interests in applications before a board, or employment opportunities and/or benefits for family members. Abuse of public office for personal gain is another area where work in the local land-use arena may present ethical problems. For example, an attorney or her clients may be knowledgeable about certain information regarding the potential purchase of property within the municipality. It would be unethical to quickly "buy up" the land in question in the hopes of turning a quick profit since, based upon "insider information," this land could be worth a premium in the near future. Although George Plunkett of Tammany Hall might refer to this as "honest graft," [FN2] today *386 it would be analogous to laws protecting confidentiality and the prohibition of insider trading in the securities arena. More flagrant ethical issues, including bribery and influence peddling, can carry criminal penalties (and in fact are found within state penal laws rather than codes of ethics), while conflicts of interest matters may yield to lesser civil fines.

 

D. Avoiding Headlines

The bottom line is that lawyers and their clients would prefer to avoid headlines in local newspapers which suggest allegations of unethical conduct. As Senator Alan Cranston professed during the Keating Five investigation, "It's easy to make an allegation of unethical conduct; it's hard to defend against such an allegation." [FN3] So often the allegation is reported and followed on the front pages, but news that months (and sometimes years) later the allegations were found unsubstantiated usually goes unreported.