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Welcome back to my blog Contemplative Being. Today I thought I would share some of my thoughts regarding ethics in the news. Last Sunday morning I woke up and turned on the local news as I do every morning. It may have been a slow news day because the first thing I hear is that Chris Christie the Republican Governor of New Jersey was flying out to Green Bay to watch the Packers play against the Dallas Cowboys (Florio, M. 2015). Now that in itself is not newsworthy no matter how slow of a news day it may be, there are tons of sports fans that follow their teams around the country, what makes it news worthy is that he bought his own tickets both for the flight and to the game. This is what caught my attention because apparently Governor Christie does not typically pay for his travel and tickets for Cowboys games. At first this story reminded me of a news report from back in 2010 about then DC Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) not playing nice and sharing tickets to the Washington Nationals games with the DC Council Members (Craig, T. 2010). I had no idea that the Mayor’s office receives 20 box seat tickets to every Nationals home game but it makes sense if you think about it because the city spends a ton of money to support local teams particularly when it comes to building the stadium. As it turns out this sort of arrangement is fairly typical in cities with sports teams and in DC there are similar deals with the Verizon Center home of the Capitals and Wizards.

I do not see any ethical issues when the tickets are used as intended, the water gets murky however when Council Members use the tickets for themselves or for political gain. It is not far fetched to think DC Council Members might give tickets to choice games to their friends or donors and although this may not technically violate any laws it is ethically questionable. The DC Council has been working recently to overhaul its ethics rules due to numerous lapses in conduct over the past several years.

Hold on a second, Chris Christie is the Governor of New Jersey so why has he been getting free travel and tickets to Cowboys games? Oh, I see, the Governor is friends with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and he invites Christie on expenses paid trips to watch the games. Fortunately Christie and Jones are personal friends because this means that the receipt of gifts from Jones is not an ethics violation according to New Jersey law so case closed.

Now the Governor like the DC Council is no stranger to matters of ethical concern so I did a bit of googling and came across a news report from just last week on January 6, 2015. The story was about news that has surfaced that in 2013 Governor Christie had encouraged the Port Authority to give a contract to a firm owned by Jerry Jones (The Associated Press. 2015). This is where things get interesting on the ethical front. The Port Authority claims that the proposal submitted by Jones’s company was the best one and that is why it was selected, if this is true then there is no problem unless of course they received inside information or something like that which would be a violation of course.

I do not know if the DC Council Members have misused the tickets that are provided to them for Nationals games or any other DC team and I do not know if Governor Christie has used his position to benefit himself and or his friends. What I do know that in either case ethical values are at the center. I was doing some research for class this past week when I came across an article in the journal Public Administration Review about codes of ethics in public administration. The article talked about the importance of an ethical code of behavior at the profession level. It also talks about how the organization that was created back in 1939 to create a code for public administrators did not actually create one until 1984 (Code of Ethics. 2013). The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) is the professional organization for public administrators and it operates similarly to other professional organizations such as the American Architecture Institute for architects or the American Society of Journalists and Authors for journalists and authors. The purpose of professional organizations is of course to bring people with similar interests together but also to provide them with a basic ethical guideline based on the fundamentals of the profession. Often these organizations have memberships and fees if you want to be able to add them to your resume or business card but even if you are not an active paying member you are still bound by the ethical standards of your profession which these groups espouse. The ethics code for public administrators is general as a result of the diverse nature of the profession but it is meaningful nonetheless. Public administrators especially those in elected office may forget that they are public administrators, and I have no doubt that the constant temptations of the perks of office or seemingly harmless gestures from friendship are hard to resist but as servants of the public we must. Ethical codes exist to ensure that we remain focused on the people we serve and not ourselves. Chris Christie, the DC Council and countless other public servants need to be reminded from time to time that although they may not be paying members of their profession’s organization they still must abide by their fundamental ethical standards.  

Thanks for stopping by, stop in next week for another thought provoking session at Contemplative Being.

Below are links to the articles and news stories mentioned above.

The Associated Press (2015, January 6) Christie Under Fire Due to Gifts From Cowboys Owner. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Christie-Under-Fire-Due-to-Gifts-From-Cowboys-Owner-287733781.html

Craig, T. (2010, March 12). Fenty gives D.C. Council season tickets to Nationals games. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031104118.html

Florio, M. (2015, January 10). Chris Christie will pay his own way to Green Bay. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/10/chris-christie-will-pay-his-own-way-to-green-bay/

Savra, James H. “Who Are the Keepers of the Code? Articulating and Upholding Ethical Standards in the Field of Public Administration” Public Administration Review. 74(5) July, (2014). Pg. 561-9. Doi 10.1111/puar.12230 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/puar.12230

Code of Ethics. (2013). Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://www.aspanet.org/public/ASPA/About_ASPA/Code_of_Ethics/ASPA/Resources/Code_of_Ethics/Code_of_Ethics1.aspx?hkey=222cd7a5-3997-425a-8a12-5284f81046a8