Category: Ethics in Government

Some good news: The Wall Street Journal reports, in its December 1, 2005 issue,* that the Norwegian Petroleum Fund, in charge of managing the income from Norway’s rapidly increasing oil revenues, has hired Henrik Syse, a professor of ethics and philosophy, to be its “moral compass.”

Syse cheerfully admits he hadn’t even known the difference between a stock and a bond. And he’s totally happy to go to work on the tram, no fancy limousine for him.

Norway has adopted the corporate governance standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It’s Syse’s job to implement new ethical rules that prohibit investments that might put the fund in the position where it “may contribute to unethical acts or omissions.”

I find this refreshing and delightful. And I’d love to see more companies and government organizations embracing the idea that they need a moral compass. In my own small way, with the Ethical Business Pledge campaign, I’ve tried to provide a tool for finding that compass.

* The article, “Oil-Rich Norway Hires Philosopher As Moral Compass: State Seeks Ethics Lesson On Investing Its Bonanza,” by staff reporter Andrew Higgins, is available to non-subscribers for $4.95–or ask your local librarian to locate it for you.

That’s what 8-term Republican Congressman Randy Cunningham said in his resignation speech, after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes. Oh yes, and then talk about chutzpah, listen to this:

The
tax evasion charge came after Cunningham reported joint income with his
wife of $121,079 for 2004 and claimed he was due a refund of $8,504.
Prosecutors said his income was $1,215,458 and he owed $385,077 in
taxes.

(You won’t find that in the above link, but it’s in the copy of the AP story a friend sent me.)

Hmmm, yet another GOP Congressional scandal–this makes the fourth one
(DeLay, Frist, Bob Ney), not counting Plamegate and other White House
scandals. One Democrat, William Jefferson of Louisiana, is also under
investigation.

The Washington Post reports,

Democrats
have vowed to make what they have called the GOP’s “culture of
corruption” a major theme of a 2006 congressional election campaign
already unfolding under the twin clouds of the Iraq war and high energy
prices.

The Post kept a sense of humor in its report:

For
a gruff war veteran, Cunningham emerges from the court documents as a
man with surprisingly delicate tastes. Among the gifts he accepted were
a $7,200 Louis-Philippe commode, circa 1850; three antique nightstands;
a leaded-glass cabinet; a washstand; a buffet; and four armoires. After
paying $13,500 toward a Rolls-Royce in April 2002, one of Cunningham’s
benefactors tossed in $17,889.96 toward the car’s repairs less than a
month later.

Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) talks to reporters in San Diego after pleading guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion. (By Lenny Ignelzi — Associated Press)

Now
he’s forced out of not only the House but his ill-gotten house, and
will probably go to jail. You’d think these people would figure out by
now that crime doesn’t pay–unless, perhaps, the President calls you
“Kenny-boy.” Lay’s trial was supposed to start over a year ago, and
even that was years late. Why are they waiting?

And whatever
happened to the days when public office was a public trust, and CEOs
saw their mission as stewardship of shared resources rather than
feathering their own nests? It’s important to note that those who paid
the bribes, and received vast return on their investment, are just as
tarnished as the fallen Cunningham.

This week, I received a fund appeal on behalf of none other than Katherine Harris. Remember Harris? She was the highly partisan Florida Secretary of State whose conduct of the 2000 election and counting cast a cloud of illegitimacy over the entire Bush II administration (a cloud that only gets thicker with time).

This would be funny if she weren’t serious. Ms. I-Have-No-Integrity-To-Start-With has the chutzpah to write,

I can no longer take the high road, turn the other cheek, or consider the source when faced with character assassinations, half-truths, and outright lies, I must fight back.

Protecting my integrity takes money.

Well, I don’t know how much father she can fall off the integrity wagon! Her conduct as Secretary of State was shameful. In an normal era, it might have been labeled criminal.

When Harris says she will no longer take the high road, I don’t even want to speculate on how low she will stoop.

Talk about too little, too late! In the throes of a popularity plunge, GW Bush decides to have Harriet Miers conduct ethics trainings for key staff. So reports the Washington Post.

This is the most scandal-ridden administration since maybe Warren G. Harding. The group that has built its entire platform on lies, favors to friends at taxpayer expense, suppression of legal dissent, illegal disclosure of an undercover agent in apparent retaliation for a policy critique, and criminal foreign policy. Oh, and can we throw in a level of disaster unpreparedness that would embarrass a typical 3rd or 4th world country coupled with a president who doesn’t have a clue about what to do when his people are hurting?

Ethics training? Don’t make me laugh! These guys (mostly, they’re guys) wouldn’t know ethics if it walked up to them and bit them on the cheek. If I thought for a moment that this was anything other than a PR stunt to begin damage control, I might be hopeful. But call me cynical, but I think this gang is far too far gone to actually care about their impact on others.

You want to show me you’re serious, Mr. Bush? Start by making good on your promise to fire anyone tainted by the Plamegate scandal. I don’t see Karl Rove or Cheney packing their suitcases just yet, and Libby’s replacement is part of the same skunkworks. So let’s not pretend ethics has anything to do with this administration while those two “gentlemen” go to work at the White House each day.

Please read this article by Ari Berman about the ethics troubles of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist, and the general Bush administration climate of corruption and brute force. All I can say is, “I agree.”

Same author earlier put together a nice chronology of DeLay’s accusations–and his “pithy” responses. Makes interesting reading.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/opinion/22thur3.html

Hoo, boy! They just really think the public is asleep at the switch! The above editorial castigates the Senate for sneaking a provision into a transportation bill that would allow incumbent senators to raise:

…An incumbent’s donation to the national party would be free for recycling right back through the new loophole as found money for the donor’s own campaign. Allowing that would circumvent the three-year-old reform limits and establish dual campaign standards: a free and easy one for incumbents, and a tight one for challengers, barred from running “leadership” kitties. Challengers would be restricted to collecting $4,200 per person for a campaign, while a senator could collect $34,200 per donor for the same race.

Hello! Earth to Senate: this is not OK! Can you say “double standard?” Incumbents already have a tremendous advantage, including the ability to send out vote-for-me propaganda disguised as constituent newsletters, at taxpayer expense; this would skew the field beyond anything that could be called a democracy.

Action time: call and write your Senators. Let them know you want this provision stripped out of this bill, and that you’ll be watching the vote

https://www.proliberty.com/observer/20050805.htm

Here we go again: the interplay of ethics scandals in the corporate and government worlds.

While I take this source with a grain of salt, I see no reason to doubt the allegations that a drug company pushed through approval of aspartame despite some serious health risks. Nor does it surprise me that Donald Rumsfeld was apparently involved. It would be in keeping with the amoral mentality he has shown over and over again in his current position.

One day, perhaps, we will have evolved as a species to the point where people will read this sort of thing in the history books and laugh, knowing how far we’ve come. Meanwhile, we can reach for our handkerchiefs