An Ethics Code for Politicians Who Need It

Tired of bribery, wholesale corruption, kickbacks, organized greed and all the other tawdry and dangerous symptoms of ethical malaise?

Michael Josephson has got a magazine for you.

Especially if you’re an elected official.

It’s called Ethics: Easier Said Than Done. And Josephson, an independently wealthy former law professor and founder of the Josephson Institute for the Advancement of Ethics in Marina del Rey, is busy getting the second issue of the quarterly into visual range of “every major politician in the country.”

The key point here is visual range. Publisher Josephson, clearly a pragmatist, says he expects hardly anyone to read all of the 154-page double-issue of the magazine. This is undoubtedly an honest assessment since the cover alone may contain more words than some minimalist novels. Words like honesty, integrity, fidelity, accountability-- and every possible synonym for them. There isn’t any advertising, ethical or otherwise, either. Nevertheless, Josephson expects the big red word Ethics emblazoned across the top of the magazine to perform the same function as a twinge of conscience when it turns up in a politician’s office.

“Even if it’s not read, people will say, ‘There’s something going on here, there’s a movement,’ ” Josephson explained.

Toward that end--and maybe even some serious reading--Josephson has conspired with the National Conference of Mayors, the national associations for state legislators and state attorneys general and similar groups to distribute the magazine to their members and others. In all, about 10,000 public servants will receive copies.

Appropriately, the general topic of the second (spring-summer) issue of Ethics is “Ethics in Government.” Feature articles include “How Payola Works in Politics” by Assemblyman X, and “Politics and Principles in Defense Spending” by Nick Kotz, author of the recent well-received book, “Wild Blue Yonder: Money, Politics and the B-1 Bomber.”

Kotz’s essay reflects Josephson’s view that many people have an “oversimplistic view of ethics” and that “real ethical decisions are very complicated.”

Shared Outrage

In part, Kotz writes, “I share the outrage of other citizens at disclosures of venality, but, in terms of the overall problem, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. The source of and solution to the problem is not centered on venal individuals who use the system for personal gain (though there are plenty). It resides in the thousands who corrupt the system, not out of personal avarice, but out of a sense of duty and loyalty to the narrowly construed interests inherent in their jobs.”

Among other things, Kotz suggests that defense-related scandals will not end until voters stop judging defense issues on “crude generalities” and “unless all of us stop treating defense as a huge pork barrel.” He lays particular blame on presidential candidates who feared discussing the subtleties of defense policies out of fear “they would be misunderstood and (because) we the voters didn’t do our homework as citizens.”

Ethics also contains a 40-page section called “EthicsWatch,” summaries of recent developments or scandals with ethical import in the law, government, business, education, sports, journalism, family issues and health care. Culled from newspapers, magazines and other sources, the items are a litany that seems to have depressed Josephson, who called the number of ethics-related stories he found “staggering.”

Collection of Essays

The centerpiece of the magazine, however, seems to be “Ethics Forum,” a collection of essays by current and former elected officials, civil servants and others with their takes on various aspects of public conduct. Although a few of the nearly 50 essays are abridgements or revisions of testimony or speeches, most were written specifically for his magazine, Josephson said. Contributors include U.S. senators such as California’s Alan Cranston, Maine’s William S. Cohen, Wyoming’s Alan Simpson and West Virginia’s Robert Byrd, as well as Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson and U.S. Atty. Gen. Richard Thornburgh, who recently succeeded scandal-plagued Edwin Meese.

However, the honor of lead-off position in the forum is given to an ex-senator, John C. Culver of Iowa, a Democrat defeated for reelection in 1980.

Reflecting on his career as a congressman and senator, Culver said that his ethical “moment of truth” occurred during the Vietnam War over a bill “to make it a federal crime, with heavy penalties--including a prison term--to burn the American flag.” Although the burning of the flag at anti-war demonstrations “deeply offended” him personally, former Marine officer Culver decided to vote against the bill, becoming one of only 12 congressmen to do so. The reason: “I was convinced that, although most distasteful to me, the burning of the American flag was protected speech under the U.S. Constitution,” Culver writes.

The lesson he took from 16 years on Capitol Hill, Culver notes, is that “If you think of it (elected office) as a career, you won’t be very good at it. And if you think of it as a career--you may serve time, but you can’t serve the public.”

Ethics, the magazine, is an outgrowth of Josephson’s nonprofit institute, named in memory of his parents, Joseph and Edna, and founded nearly two years ago as a public service venture. The institute has sponsored workshops and seminars on ethical conduct for public officials and their aides as well as journalists. Each issue of the quarterly will be devoted to a specific topic. Future issues will cover ethics and the law, ethics and journalism and ethics and business, Josephson said. For information on obtaining the magazine, call the institute at (213) 306-1868.