"Frivolity" in Kenosha, WI
"Frivolous" is a word that, I believe, has no place in a government ethics
program. A look at an attempt to add it to Kenosha's ethics program
shows how, well, frivolous the word is.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/ordinance_seeks_to_derail_frivolous_eth…; target="”_blank”">an
article in this Sunday's Kenosha (WI) <i>News</i></a>, a proposed ethics
code amendment before the Kenosha council would make it so that a
person who files an ethics complaint that "is dismissed in total" by
the city’s ethics board would be responsible for paying the legal
and administrative fees of the board and of the respondent.<br>
<br>
One alderman who supports the amendment is quoted as saying, “What
we want to do is amend this to deter frivolous complaints but at the
same time not deter individuals with legitimate issues with a
particular individual.”<br>
<br>
This is impossible. The possibility of having to pay many thousands
of dollars for doing the public service of alerting an ethics
program to possible ethical misconduct will deter anyone but a
multimillionaire from doing so. It's not as if the complainant even
has a role in what happens after the complaint is filed. There are
so many reasons a complaint may be dismissed, and who knows what
influence an official may have on an ethics board. Who's going to
take the chance?<br>
<br>
An opponent of the amendment is quoted as saying, “We owe more to
the people that elected us than to threaten them with fines if they
think something we’re doing is wrong. This is terrible.” He's right.<br>
<br>
What is this all about? The article's last sentence makes the
picture a bit more clear:<blockquote>
Aldermen G. John Ruffolo, Steve Bostrom, Patrick Juliana and Scott
Gordon abstained because they are involved in various ethics
complaints. </blockquote>
<br>
"Frivolous" is what many respondents (and many who fear becoming a
respondent) call any complaint filed against them. "Frivolous" isn't
something that you know when you see it. It's a name you call what
you see when you don't like it. It has no place in a government ethics
program.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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