Thinking Ethics

Can we hope?

Change has come to America, and the new president has promised that government will also change. Is this one of those campaign promises that will never be fulfilled, or are we going to see some traction on this issue? Well, President Obama has signed bills on his first day in office to improve transparency of the government by demanding that it disclose more information, by mandating new limits on lobbyists, and by freezing salaries of the top echelons. A real signal. So can we hope?  Yes we can.

Last ditch effort

The current administration is passing a flury of regulations before its term ends. I wonder how ethical this is given the lack of debate possiblities.  It really seems like the administration is taking advantage of its position to force particular issues. A case in point is the regulation protecting health care workers in cases of conscience (good article summarizes the problem in the Washington Post here ).

Nancy Pelosi delivers independent ethics office

Kicking and screaming, the House is brought closer to reform as the US House of Representatives creates an independent ethics office. It will be composed of six non partisan outsiders, but will not have subpoena power. At last a step to clean up politics! Full story in the New York Time here.

Ethically challenged ethics committee

Good editorial in the New York Times entitled "House Cleaning" on the proposed new oversight office of the US government. They are giving the new office more power to combat corruption. The question remains open as to wether they will be able to give it the right to issue subpoenas. Final decision in about a month.

Finally, reward for good behavior

A new contest aimed at rewarding good African leadership is being launched by Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese businessman. He plans to give USD 5 million to the winner and 200'000 USD per year to do philanthropic work. The chairperson of the prize committee is former UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan. Full article entitled "A reward for good behavior" in Newsweek.

Tougher Lobbying in the USA

The new law that the US Senate just passed (and that should shortly be signed by the President) must be a step in the right direction - the lobbyists are all scrambling for cover! As can be seen by this article in the New York Times entitled "Tougher Rules Change Game for Lobbyist".  A description of the new law, that restrict gifts, meals and travel to lawmakers and imposes a fine of up to 200'000$ and five years in prison to the lobbyist is given in a previous article here. It is going to make it trickier for the politicians to fund raise, as there will be more scrutiny. And probably more transparency on earmarking. The lobbyists are going to have to certify that none of their staff did anything wrong - and they are all upset about this - and yeah, in the real world it is called accountability. We can expect massive training in the Washington area in the next few months...

Hope springs eternally...

After one more scandal in the US House of Representatives, it seems that Nancy Pelosi is ready to sign off on the proposal put forth by a bipartisan task force to create an oversight panel of respected outsiders. I hope that this independent office to oversee ethics enforcement will have the power necessary to do a decent job. More in this editorial in the New York Times.

New Director of UN Ethics Office

Robert F. Benson, a Candadian lawyer with extensive experience in governmental ethics, has been appointed Director of the UN Ethics Office as of May 1, 2007. The post was created by the previous Secretary General to administer financial disclosure and whistleblower policies. Press release here.

Nitpicking

Very amusing and relevant article in Ethics Newsline from Globalethics.org about how far the new lobbying regulations are taking us - OK to offer someone from the government an hors d'oeuvre as long as he does not sit down (meals are banned), toothpicks are OK, but no knives and forks.... Regulation gone bezerk ? or just the interpretation of the new laws ? But the article makes a very good point - rules keep people within the limits - they do not correct the underlying culture. What we need is more weaving of ethics in the school material. Maybe all this "politically correct" attitude stops us from taking a clear stand. Kids (and adults, and unfortunately if you read the polls lots of politicians) need to be sensitized to the issues so that it flows naturally into their decision process. We need to rally around the concept of The Common Good.

Congress votes ethics reform

Well, the vote for reform of ethics and lobbying rules went through 96 to 2 ! It bars senators from accepting meals, gifts and trips, tightens the rules on travel (borrowing corporate jets) and imposes a disclosure requirement as to the purpose and cost of projects (earmarks) and for bundled checks in fundraising. This really is a step in the right direction. A great pity that the US Congress did not go far enough in policing themselves - they turned down the proposal to create an independent ethics committee 71:27. Now the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, so stay tuned ! more in the Washington Post