Why Us: Letter from the Executive Director

Leslie W. Merritt, CPA, Executive Director

Whether you favor limited government or one that plays a more active role, we can all agree government should be honest, effective and efficient. But in order to achieve this, there must be a sufficient number of independent-minded watchdogs monitoring our public officials.

Despite this vital need, and as government spending is rapidly increasing, oversight agencies have been stretched increasingly thin in recent years. Struggles facing newsrooms across the country to keep pace with fewer resources also threaten to reduce the number of investigative reporters functioning as independent watchdogs. These factors have contributed to a target-rich environment for those few public officials who would abuse the system.

The public trust is at the heart of our government’s ability to do the job people rightly expect it to do, and that is why it was so important to establish the Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc. The Foundation is an “action entity” which educates citizens and government leaders about the corrosive impact of ethical lapses on our system of government.

The Foundation’s mission is to bring a new level of transparency, accountability and integrity to all levels of American government. One way we do that is by independently investigating allegations of corruption in government. To address potential issues before they become problems, The Foundation also proactively educates government leaders and the general public about the true nature of ethics in government as well as the causes of and remedies for public corruption.

As we work to accomplish our mission, we never lose sight of two guiding principles: first, government will always have a hard time policing itself; and second, more can be accomplished if we don’t care who gets the credit.

The Foundation’s efforts translate into action on two major fronts: (1) promoting transparency by facilitating the investigation and reporting of alleged public corruption; and (2) providing information and support to help enforcement and oversight agencies do their jobs more effectively, which could lead to indictments or other enforcement actions.

By facilitating investigative reporting, we help ensure that citizens are educated about occurrences of public corruption. Increasing public awareness of the importance of ethics in public service promotes transparency in government, and in turn helps law enforcement and oversight agencies do their jobs more effectively. Altogether these measures encourage public servants at all levels to provide citizens with honest, ethical service.

If we are to be truly successful in accomplishing our mission going forward, much of what we do will not get public recognition. Our goal is to get results, not credit. One of the ways we will facilitate investigative reporting is by receiving and vetting tips, then passing them on to investigative reporters who expose them to the spotlight of media coverage. In other instances, investigative reporters will enlist our help to dig deeper when their instincts tell them there is more to the story, but they simply lack the time or resources to pursue the story. In those cases, we will investigate further and then hand the story back to the reporter who provided us with the tip in the first place.

Transparency is one of the cornerstones of government accountability. The spotlight of public scrutiny goes a long way toward creating honest, open government. In many cases, however, a great deal of information that should be public knowledge is gathered by oversight agencies or law enforcement agencies -- but never sees the light of day due to plea bargains or other similar arrangements. Our goal is to increase government transparency by providing information to the media independently and by providing support to help oversight agencies do their jobs more effectively.

The Foundation’s work will evolve over time as we build relationships with other entities. We anticipate that will include an array of media outlets, other foundations, investigative reporters, law enforcement agencies and personnel, forensic accountants, legal experts and others throughout the nation who will enhance our ability to effectively process and investigate allegations of public corruption. Building a strong nationwide network of proven experts will enable us to effectively accomplish our mission while running a lean, efficient organization.

We are building a cutting edge online presence that we believe will become the go-to Web site for individuals who wish to report public corruption or learn more about why ethics and honest service are so important to our system of government. Dr. Frank Perry, our Director of Investigations and Public Affairs, has taught ethics to thousands of individuals, both in the classroom and in seminars. Frank will continue his education effort through the Foundation and will oversee the development of a regionally catalogued online archive containing examples of both ethics successes and shortcomings. We envision our Web site serving as a comprehensive resource for all things related to ethics in public service.

The strategies outlined in this letter are only the tip of the iceberg, we are committed to being a results-oriented "action entity". Please stay tuned to our site as we outline our future plans. There are many individuals and organizations throughout America who share our desire to bring a new level of transparency, accountability and integrity to all levels of government. We look forward to partnering with those individuals and organizations to strengthen the fabric of American society by ensuring that our government is open, honest and accountable and by inspiring public servants to conduct themselves ethically.

Frank L. Perry, Director of Investigations and Public Affairs

What we value morally, and how we act with respect to those values, is the domain of ethics. Ethics initiatives, whether ethics in medicine, law, business, or public service, must take into account the nature and promotion of right as opposed to wrong action. Ethics is the constant, and the professions are the variable. The motive or reasons for right or wrong action is more the finer point of morality. For example, an act has no moral worth if it is done for a selfish reason, but it can be determined to be ethical or not based on considerations (the values we hold) of whether or not it is the right action to take, or the wrong one. Motives or reasons for actions - the realm of morality, even religion - cannot be legislated, so American law - whether by way of common law or by statute - traditionally has avoided even the appearance of "moral policing".

It is clear that we cannot, that we should not, seek directly or implicitly to "legislate morality", or to hold to a standard of "common law crime of unethical conduct". We can, and this Foundation believes we should, be vigilant in exposing specific acts or schemes to act on the part of public officials that are unethical, either because they violate state or federal ethics statutes; violate a specific law guarding against public corruption or corrupt acts by elected or hired government officials; or, more importantly, violate the letter and constitutional and so philosophical spirit of the citizens' right to have honest services provided them by their elected or hired government officials.

Ethics Commissions are quite limited in their effect on right and wrong action by public officials. Their enabling statutes narrowly are confined to financial or conflict of interest disclosure and gift bans. Therefore, mere disclosure of financial interests, and avoiding gifts from lobbyists or other "interested persons" who may or do have business with the governmental entity, are all that is needed. Ethics proper in public service is far more than this. Higher order ethics in public service consists of understanding and acting on the public servant's duty to provide all citizens - and each citizen equally - the right to honest services. An action by a public servant is ethical in this sense if that public servant acts compatibly with the right to honest services held by the citizens who put their trust in and pay them. This core value marks the wrongness - certainly the illegality - of bribes, self-dealing, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, Hobbs Act, and violations of all other state and federal anti-corruption statutes. Mere compliance with financial disclosure/conflict of interest laws is benign and of no genuine ethical consequence. Violations of ethics laws seldom result in punishment of any significance, except for an occasional fine for non-disclosure. Accordingly, "Ethics" Commissions should be re-named "Conflict of Interest" or "Compliance" Commissions. Citizens demand a higher, different sort of ethics from their public servants, and it is that conception of ethics in public service that requires compliance with right as opposed to wrong action, regardless of mere compliance with disclosure laws.

For example, of the various enabling statutes that frame the jurisdiction of state and federal ethics commissions, many cite failure to disclose a financial interest as a misdemeanor, but exclude bribery of a public official as a violation of the respective "Ethics Act", since other statutes govern the elements of bribery. This is not in itself ill-advised; it simply points to the rather banal nature of "ethics laws". Ethics writ large - and writ completely - seeks to understand, promote, enact, and act upon principles of right as opposed to wrong action, and it is ethics in public service in this sense that this Foundation seeks to explicate and defend. This is not akin to "morality policing" or advocating for a vehicle to enact ethics laws that would prohibit per se unethical personal conduct. Rather, the position taken is that public service requires a higher standard and obligation of honesty since the right to honest services is held by citizens and taxpayers. This higher standard to promote the public or greater good is not a double standard. Public servants, by definition and by their oath, take on new obligations, and they should not accept the position if they do not want to live up to the higher standard paved with new obligations. Having a career in public service - by definition the most entrusting and powerful service for the public good - entails a higher standard of conduct. Citizens must hold public servants more accountable for their actions because they see more, know more, have more visibility, have more power, receive pay from the citizens, and must make ethical decisions for the sake of the people they serve.

There is a more immediate and important ethical link between citizens and those who serve them in the respective local, state, and federal governments, and that is the oath or affirmation public servants render upon taking their office. From "I do solemnly swear (or affirm)..." to "...I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter..." (emphasis added), there is a golden thread, as it were, of implied and profound commitment to maintain a higher ethical standard in the face of conflicts of interest and the temptations and vagaries that position and power afford.

The necessary condition for corruption in public service is for a public servant to engage in wrongdoing, or to deprive citizens of the honest services they expect, or not to act compatibly with the promotion of honest services. The sufficient condition (it does take two to Tango) for public corruption to begin and flourish is for the other public servants who are aware of the wrongdoing to do nothing, or for citizens who can take action - by reporting their reasonable suspicions to responsible entities - to themselves do nothing when public servants fail them. It may not be pleasant or comfortable for responsible complainants, oversight agencies, and the media, to have to shine light on corruption, but most citizens would agree we would rather not need a Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc., but rather have ethics in public service. Until that time comes, we will act upon Aristotle's assertion, "the true student of politics...is thought to have studied virtue above all things."