On the Tuesday after July 4th, it's worth remembering that independence does not come cheap, and that there are some things that are more important than independence.
One of those things is the public trust. There is a serious cost to our society when government officials place their privacy rights regarding ethics enforcement related information above the public trust, that is, when government officials insist that their privacy is more important then the public’s right to know. And there is a cost to officials, too: their trial not by a neutral body in a formal proceeding that the public can have trust in, but rather by partisan accusations and media coverage based on the manipulation of limited facts and a limited understanding of the issues involved.
To reduce conflict of interest problems: there is a necessity to identify and disclose potential conflicts and the importance of council members to recuse themselves from the decision-making process when an actual conflict arises. Therefore, it is an important part of the proposed ethics ordinance requiring disclosure of information by all senior employees and council members in addressing the issue of conflicts.
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