Members of the public have begun testifying before the D.C. Council on a slew of ethics bills submitted this fall, and so far the prevailing sentiment Wednesday in the council chambers is that the government doesn’t even do a good job of enforcing the ethics laws it does have.
Dorothy Brizill, founder of DC Watch, said she thinks the existing laws are mostly adequate. But she cited three instances, including a case against former Mayor Anthony Williams, where the proposed sanctions by the Board of Elections and Ethics were not carried out.
Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans offered a similar opinion in his statement before testimony began. He suggested that the main problem was a lack of disclosure by public officials, and that the punishment for not disclosing public information should be removal from office.
“I bet that would get people’s attention,” he said.
Meanwhile D.C. Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Lang said ethical lapses by public officials were hurting the city’s standing in the business community. She also touched on punishment, noting that when someone in a private business is caught in an unethical situation, they are fired. Lang added that she was concerned that so many suspected and proven ethical violations had surfaced in recent years because D.C.’s elected officials “don’t know right from wrong.”
“No amount of legislation is going to fix that,” she said.
