Mayors as Exemplars—Fact or Fiction?

5.16 Mayors as Exemplars—Fact or Fiction?

Case: 6.9 Elected officeholders can be, but too often are not, exemplary leaders. Suppose you

were the mayor of a city, population 31,580, and ran successfully for office on a plat- form of bringing ethical governance to your community. You are a genuinely com- mitted mayor and also a devoted father. You find yourself in a situation in which you need to get your daughter to summer camp and at the same time, negotiate an agreement for a local option sales tax. What would you do? Your assistant speaks up: “Oh, I can get your daughter to summer camp. No big deal!” Done deal.

Forty-five minutes later, you realize that you have violated the city’s ethics code by allowing your assistant, while on duty, to transport your daughter to camp. Embarrassed by this ethical lapse, you take out your pen and file an ethics complaint against yourself.

Fantasy? Not so. This is a real case of Mayor Steven Brown of Peachtree City, Georgia. After due deliberation, the Ethics Board found that no formal reprimand was necessary but that Mayor Brown should reimburse the city for the employee’s time. Mayor Brown readily complied and reimbursed the city $8.94.

Information Source: “Managing Municipal Ethics,” November 5, 2002, www.gmanet.com.

Discussion Questions

1. Are most mayors as ethically sensitive as Mayor Brown? Why or why not?

2. Did Mayor Brown do the right thing? Or, is he merely seeking public attention?

176 ◾ Ethics Moments in Government: Cases and Controversies

Commentary by Author

Mayors and ethics don’t always go together so well. Consider Detroit’s flamboy- ant and controversial Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. He was charged with eight felony counts, including perjury, misconduct in office, and obstruction of justice. The perjury charge is related to false testimony that he gave during a trial of the deputy police chief, who was dismissed. The deputy sued the mayor for wrongful dismissal

and during the trial, both he and his chief of staff denied they had an affair and had conspired to fire the deputy, but evidence strongly pointed to the opposite conclusion.

Prison sentences sometimes catch up with a mayor. Sharpe James, Newark’s mayor from 1986 to 2006, was sentenced to twenty-seven months in prison on fraud charges stemming from the sale of city properties to a former companion for

a fraction of their costs. Upon sentencing, Mr. James exclaimed, “All my life I have simply tried to help the City of Newark. I tried to make Newark, New Jersey, the best city in the world. If I made a mistake it was not malicious or with intent.” Alas, good intentions didn’t keep him out of jail. Nearly two dozen New Jersey mayors have been charged with corruption since 2000.

Information Source: Alan Feuer and Nate Schweber, “Newark Ex-Mayor Gets 27 Months as U.S. Judge Chastises Prosecution,” New York Times, July

30, 2008, p. A16 and August 1, 2008.

5.17 (Un)Official Misconduct

Cases: 3.7, 4.2, 4.7, 4.9, 5.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10 Unofficial misconduct? Do you know what that is? Official misconduct? Do you

know what that is? Hmmm! Not sure. Consider the case of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The Detroit city council by a vote of 5-4 asked Governor Granholm to remove Mr. Kilpatrick from office for a secret deal he struck with three Detroit police officers to settle an $8.4 million whistle-blower suit. The quid pro quo called for the officers’ attorney to turn over text messages that showed that Mayor Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff had lied under oath at the trial. Mr. Kilpatrick also happens to stand charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy.

Th e mayor’s reaction to the council vote? Vetoed! “In an 11-page veto message, Kilpatrick said the only grounds to remove an official from office allowed under the city

charter are a felony conviction or lack of qualifications.” Moreover, said the mayor, none of the violations asserted by the council against him is a removable offense under the

Building Organizations of Integrity ◾ 177

charter or constitute an act of official misconduct under state law. Official misconduct is not mentioned in the sections of the city’s charter that are cited by the council.

Information Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfeasance_in_office; Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/ NEWS05/805280352/0/news01 (accessed June 3, 2008).

Discussion Questions

1. How would you define “official misconduct”?

2. How would you change the language of the city charter to ensure that a mayor can be removed from office for conduct that is other than “a felony conviction or lack of qualifications”?

Commentary by Author

So once more—do you know what unofficial misconduct is? Most likely “yes” when you see it. How about official misconduct? Could it be the commission of an unlawful act done in an official capacity that affects the performance of one’s official duties? Most likely, yes.

Th e intersection of law and ethics, which this case illustrates, can feel like a twi- light zone where fact, fiction, and fantasy are difficult to sort out. And, procedure looms large as the default that defines right and wrong.