In the June 19th edition of the online magazine, Concentrate Media Ann Arbor, A2Ethics was featured in its "guest blog" of the week.

We happily welcomed the opportunity to give three good reasons why the Ann Arbor city council should pass ethics and professional guidelines for elected officials, including the mayor, city council members, appointed commissioners, as well as independent contractors and consultants doing business with the city.

The blog is accompanied by Dusty Upton's whimsical, but pointed illustrations. Each addresses the major ethics issues local officials face in fulfilling their responsibilities to work for the public good. Among them--The Insider Turnstile--a dilemma that is becoming more prevalent as cities privatize public services and our society continues to eliminate safety nets for both public and private employment.

We especially love the sketch of The Recusal Chair--that is, one designed for politicians. Like the children's "time-out" chair, such an approach allows officials to remove themselves from conflict (of interest) situations to promote fair treatment for all community residents.

Any "furniture" assembled next to a useful, valuable and working local ethics policy requires a guide and a maintenace manual. To do that, we recommend routine training and education for all local officials, employees and contractors. Because we also know that without education, a good ethics policy is not useful or valuable. Nor does it work. Further, we know a poor ethics policy simply adds to the already too high levels of political mistrust. 

So, please be our guest in giving your own views about city ethics/professional guideline policies that are useful and valuable. And some illustrations of how they really work. Just contact us at: [email protected]. 

The hallmark of a good city ethics policy is after all--the one we can all trust.