Monitoring the Ethics of Officials

When pictures of Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden taken with strippers during a business trip to Korea made news a few weeks ago, it brought to the surface some old questions about morality in government.

Though the city has an ethics commission, some City Council members have suggested that more is needed, such as a council ethics committee similar to one in Congress that investigates members’ conduct and may discipline or remove them.

The line between private ethics and public responsibility has blurred in recent years, and the public is more likely to see misjudgments in personal issues as a sign of professional shortcomings.

How should the ethical conduct of elected city officials be monitored?

Mike Feuer, Los Angeles city councilman:

“I think the city should focus on the behavior of elected officials in their official capacities and recognize that it is also appropriate that elected officials have private lives. Having said that, I have asked that the chief legislative analyst for the city examine how other government entities . . . address this issue. . . . I do think the public deserves the assumption that we in elected life are always very cognizant of integrity and earning the respect of our constituents. I think we can come up with a structure that will help attain that goal.”

Joel Wachs, Los Angeles city councilman:

“Politicians are like everyone else. There are good and bad. People have to take a good look at them and then go to the polls to make sure the bad ones don’t get elected. When 12% or 15% of the people go out to vote, it almost condones that kind of conduct . . . We have an ethics commission, which I have been very supportive of and worked to strengthen and keep it independent, but ultimately we have to get people and the public and media to play a role as well.”

Xandra Kayden, political scientist at UCLA’s School of Public Policy and Social Research:

“I think you have to presume that people reelected are honorable and want to do the right thing . . . It is clearly not in their interests to be perceived to be unethical. We say this with public officials because they are public officials, but under stress people fail to meet standards that are considered appropriate. But when you look at it in history, people who have behaved strangely privately have behaved properly in public. . . . If you think the public official has behaved poorly, the ballot is the best mechanism. Sometimes elections may be years away, but really egregious behavior really drives people out of office eventually.”

Edwin Guthman, USC professor of journalism and a member of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission:

“The American system has plenty of ways to monitor the conduct of people in public life and public office. There is the press. If the press is vigorous and responsible, the people will be informed. There are agencies in the city, including the ethics commission, the city attorney’s office, the district attorney’s office, that can monitor problems that might arise. Ethics is a question of right and wrong. The focus should be on public officials’ conflict of interest, the appearance of conflicts of interest. . . . I believe in open government and I have confidence in people’s judgment when they are informed.”