Editorial: Ethical Boundaries

The problems Council Members Quirk and Gaasterland seem to have understanding the ethical boundaries suggests our community should have a conversation about what ethical standards we expect from our elected officials.

We asked our AI friend “Perplexity” to summarize what ethical behavior should be expected of local elected officials. Her list looks like a good starting point for a community conversation:” integrity, honesty, respect, accountability, fairness, and responsibility…always acting in the best interest of the public, demonstrating equity and inclusivity and avoiding even the appearance of impropriety.”

We should expect Council members to exhibit ethical behavior in their interactions with four different constituencies.

First, citizens need to know that you disclose personal financial interests clearly and recuse yourself from deliberations and voting—even the appearance of conflict must be avoided. Council members must be answerable for their actions and decisions, holding themselves accountable for actions that end up poorly—own and learn from it–gaslighting the public with inaccurate information about your mistakes is a way of avoiding responsibility. Citizens have a right to honest and accurate information from their elected leaders, even if it doesn’t help one’s political needs.

Second, other Council members must know you can be trusted to honor majority decisions even when you disagree. Council members should exhibit collegial behavior, listening to one another and responding to different points of view.

Third, city staff members must be respected and free of direct Council interference and intimidation. The Council-Manager model of local government is intended to keep a firm line between political and administrative communication. All staff members report to the City Manager to implement policy direction which comes from the Council.

Finally, Council members need to accurately represent our interests  in their interactions with officials from other jurisdictions whose decisions often impact our community. Council members must be careful that their political alliances with other officials do not distort  our official city positions. Public appearances by our Council members need to carefully differentiate personal opinions from city positions, nor should critical comments be made about other jurisdictions whom we need as allies.

There are many dimensions to ethical behavior in the complicated web of local government. Del Mar has a long history of out-sized influence regionally. Much of the success has come from leaders who are scrupulous in their ethical behavior.