After 40 years, it’s finally time to tackle an ethics code applicable to Norwalk’s public officials, both elected and appointed. Recent events and allegations show that not all incidents are so egregious that “a caveman could do it”, that is, figure out if there was a ethical breach.
Thus the stage is set for revisions to the code. From the Hour:
Norwalk’s current ethics code is nearly 40 years old. Over the last two years, the council’s Ethics Committee has worked with city attorneys to draft a new document more in line with norms used by other Connecticut cities.
The revised ethics code — which could be considered by the full council as soon as its Tuesday meeting — puts forward a more comprehensive procedure for investigating complaints. Special committees would look into the complaints, with a standing committee deciding wrongdoing and meting sanctions.
“As we sit here today, we have a document that has been with us for many years and does not have a lot of the procedural mechanisms that should be a guide post for how we conduct these investigations and hearings,” said Council President Michael Coffey, who chairs the Ethics Committee.
The Ethics Committee now has three members, Democrats Coffey and Councilman Carvin Hilliard and Republican Councilman Richard McQuaid. The revised code would add two alternates.The new code would also ban gifts valued at more than $50 to city officials and limit outgoing officials seeking to take jobs that trade on their past position, both of which are allowed under current rules.
I suppose its a start, but why would the ethics code rely on anyone in Norwalk to sit on a panel. The process for empaneling would be frought with the usual drama that seems to follow events without fail. Better to seek impartial ethics experts like retired judges, ethics professors or people versed in arbitration or mediation.
It’s also likely that the state will weigh in how ethics panels and perhaps create the infrastructure for municipalities to address teh issue. The problem with the home rule history of Connecticut is that you often get 169 versions of things that could greatly benefit form a single efficient way of doing things. The state is working on ethics legislation, proposing that it become mandatory, but as usual failed to include funding for it. The devil is always in the details. Comoncause.org has a model ethics code worth taking a look at here. Of course if you read the part on selecting a panel, it would safely rule out 90% of Norwalk voters, so taking a look at people outside the town might be a good thing.
Despite an obvious need, there are those who are objecting to a revisoin of the code. It defies logic as to why anyone would object to improving Norwalk’s ethics code, but then there are plenty of incidents that somepeople would rather see swept under the rug than examined under the proposed rules.
The new document has been vetted by city department heads. The Ethics Committee agreed on several revisions at its meeting last Thursday and Coffey said the proposed code will move to the full council as soon as it is finalized by Corporation Counsel Peter Nolin. Nolin, the city’s chief attorney and a Moccia appointee, staffs the Ethics Committee.
The committee is recommending $25,000 be set aside as an annual budget item for the cost of investigating complaints. As ethics complaints have been rare in Norwalk, the funds would roll over from year to year if not spent.
The new code would also allow for the possible reimbursement of attorneys fees to officials exonerated of ethics violations.
A public hearing on the proposed changes was held several weeks ago, and the proposed code has been circulated amongst common council members and city departs for many weeks. It will be interesting to see if Norwalk can muster the political will to codify a stronger ethics code.
source: The Hour, Council sets stage to revise ethics code, By PATRICK R. LINSEY, April 9, 2007
