To the editor:
In December, the Jackson County Ethics Commission walked off the job in protest of the County Legislature’s action to exempt themselves from the County Charter mandates for ethical accountability.
After passing the ordinance, several legislators were quoted in the media expressing a preference for an outside review board that has no stake in local matters because of the inherent conflicts of interest. Legislators stated dissatisfaction with the recent two-year-long ethics investigation, alleging that commissioners may be biased because the ethics funding is dependent on the Legislature. The commission deemed it an ethical violation for legislators to use public funds to file a private lawsuit against a fellow legislator, Robert Stringfield.
The five-member ethics commission is appointed by a board that consists of the executive director of the Mid-America Regional Council, the dean of the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at UMKC and the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. The Legislature controls the commission budget and maintains the right to reject appointments to the Ethics Commission.
However, it is not general knowledge that the agencies, which appoint the members, receive funding through legislative action. With the appointment process under way, the Legislature wasted no time in drafting more than five ordinances distributing millions of dollars to those organizations.
Hence, if you accept the criticism voiced by Legislators you should ask them why they so blatantly give money to agencies that adjudicate the ethical behavior of our public servants. Then consider the conflict of interest created by the acceptance of such funding by the receiving agencies.
The originating code in the County Charter developed “ethical standards that apply to all officers and employees, whether elected or appointed who may be interested in or receive any benefit from the profits or emoluments of any contract, job, work or service for the county.”
