An ethics policy that won't be forgotten
One issue sure to draw voter interest in this year’s contest for three Yorba Linda City Council seats is current council members’ unwillingness to adopt a tough ordinance to outlaw campaign contributions from city contractors and limit special interest money.
And several candidates who are now signing up to oppose incumbents Allen Castellano, Hank Wedaa and Jim Winder are expected to make the matter a key issue in the coming campaign. (Filing ends Aug. 8—or Aug. 13, if an incumbent doesn’t seek re-election.)
A list of ethics policy options occupied council agenda space for more than a year before members addressed the topic recently by reaffirming a previous policy, adopting a model code of behavior and turning away a strict code regarding campaign money.
The 5-0 vote to “reaffirm” a largely forgotten resolution adopted by a 1972 council is nice, but meaningless. The four-page “code of ethics for city officers and employees” has no enforcement provisions or penalties and wasn’t effective in the past.
For example, the ’72 code wasn’t even mentioned when secretive management bonuses were revealed in 1999 or when council members and top management staffers met with developers to plot unsavory Town Center tactics behind closed doors in 2005 and 2006.
In fact, no one recalled the city had such a policy until the document was found in the City Clerk’s files after Councilman John Anderson asked that ethics policy options be researched and presented for council consideration last year.
Also well-intentioned is an admirable “model code of ethical behavior,” adopted 5-0, which outlines eight ethical values and 29 specific behaviors for the city’s elected and appointed officials, employees, volunteers and other government participants.
The commendable values include being ethical, professional, service-oriented, fiscally responsible, organized, communicative, collaborative and progressive. But the code has no procedures for evaluation and appears destined for another City Hall file cabinet.
Real reform would have been a new ordinance “regarding campaign contributions and disqualifications,” supported by Anderson but opposed by Castellano, Wedaa, Winder and Councilwoman Jan Horton.
The tough law would have forbidden council members from accepting campaign contributions from individuals and firms with city contracts and prohibited them from voting on matters involving contributors who donated $100 or more the prior 12 months.
A FINAL NOTE
One bright spot in recent council decision-making was the 4-1 vote to place an initiative outlawing the use of eminent domain for private development on the Nov. 4 ballot. The lone opponent was Winder, who didn’t want to “bind the hands” of future councils.
Supporters Anderson, Castellano, Horton and Wedaa probably will sign ballot arguments in favor of the welcome measure, sure to be popular with residents upset with past actions regarding redevelopment and wary of “willing seller-willing buyer” pronouncements.
And several candidates who are now signing up to oppose incumbents Allen Castellano, Hank Wedaa and Jim Winder are expected to make the matter a key issue in the coming campaign. (Filing ends Aug. 8—or Aug. 13, if an incumbent doesn’t seek re-election.)
A list of ethics policy options occupied council agenda space for more than a year before members addressed the topic recently by reaffirming a previous policy, adopting a model code of behavior and turning away a strict code regarding campaign money.
The 5-0 vote to “reaffirm” a largely forgotten resolution adopted by a 1972 council is nice, but meaningless. The four-page “code of ethics for city officers and employees” has no enforcement provisions or penalties and wasn’t effective in the past.
For example, the ’72 code wasn’t even mentioned when secretive management bonuses were revealed in 1999 or when council members and top management staffers met with developers to plot unsavory Town Center tactics behind closed doors in 2005 and 2006.
In fact, no one recalled the city had such a policy until the document was found in the City Clerk’s files after Councilman John Anderson asked that ethics policy options be researched and presented for council consideration last year.
Also well-intentioned is an admirable “model code of ethical behavior,” adopted 5-0, which outlines eight ethical values and 29 specific behaviors for the city’s elected and appointed officials, employees, volunteers and other government participants.
The commendable values include being ethical, professional, service-oriented, fiscally responsible, organized, communicative, collaborative and progressive. But the code has no procedures for evaluation and appears destined for another City Hall file cabinet.
Real reform would have been a new ordinance “regarding campaign contributions and disqualifications,” supported by Anderson but opposed by Castellano, Wedaa, Winder and Councilwoman Jan Horton.
The tough law would have forbidden council members from accepting campaign contributions from individuals and firms with city contracts and prohibited them from voting on matters involving contributors who donated $100 or more the prior 12 months.
A FINAL NOTE
One bright spot in recent council decision-making was the 4-1 vote to place an initiative outlawing the use of eminent domain for private development on the Nov. 4 ballot. The lone opponent was Winder, who didn’t want to “bind the hands” of future councils.
Supporters Anderson, Castellano, Horton and Wedaa probably will sign ballot arguments in favor of the welcome measure, sure to be popular with residents upset with past actions regarding redevelopment and wary of “willing seller-willing buyer” pronouncements.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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