COMMENTARY ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST : Law Agencies Need Public’s Help to Fight Official Corruption : Enforcement bodies need more resources and the political will to correct a pervasive and destructive problem.

After an all-too-brief hiatus, conflict-of-interest stories are once again in the headlines. Whether it’s free tickets to Disneyland for members of the Anaheim City Council, alleged free trips to Santa Catalina Island and an $8,500 interest-free loan for Supervisor Don R. Roth, or land-use decisions allegedly affecting property owned by Newport Beach City Council member Evelyn R. Hart, citizen attention is once again riveted on the ignoble side of politics.

No city in the county is immune to conflict-of-interest problems. Anaheim, Brea, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange and Santa Ana, along with the Board of Supervisors, have been afflicted with conflicts during the past few years.

Orange County is quickly gaining a reputation for political impropriety rivaling that of New York’s Tammany Hall or Chicago under the elder Richard Daley.

A conflict of interest occurs when an official’s public actions are affected by personal interests. Such a charge alleges that an elected or an appointed official: 1) realized some direct or indirect financial gain from governmental actions he or she participated in; 2) rendered a decision to protect or enhance personal financial interests; or 3) acted to protect or enhance the financial interests of campaign contributors, close friends or political supporters.

Conflicts, especially those from gifts, leave the impression that decisions made by elected officials have already been bought and paid for by moneyed special interests. It doesn’t really matter if the gift or reciprocity is legal; it’s still wrong and inconsistent with open and deliberative decision-making in a representative democracy.

Why the problem and what is being done about it in Orange County?

Somehow I doubt officials in Orange County are more corruptible than their counterparts elsewhere. However, due to the role that development plays in shaping political and economic life in the county, temptations for corruptibility may be much greater.

The financial stakes associated with new development are high and therefore, so is the willingness of developers and public officials to play fast and loose with the public’s trust. It’s no surprise that many conflict-of-interest cases involve public officials who do business with or accept gifts from developers while at the same time promoting or approving new development projects.

Additionally, conflicts stem from public officials who use positions of public trust to promote and enhance their personal business interests. Since money dominates common culture, status and power in Orange County, public officials are no different from the rest of the population in wanting more of it. Conflicts of interest emerge when public officials are willing to use positions of public trust and taxpayer dollars to get it.

Conflicts of interest are “business as usual” for too many public officials in the county. Yet when it comes to enforcement of state and local laws, many are accused, few are investigated by the authorities, and almost no one is ever prosecuted.

Accusations frequently take place during election campaigns and often arise to secure political advantage. Like the child who cries wolf too often, this tends to lessen public outrage when authentic complaints are filed and officials charged. It’s too easy to accuse an official of impropriety, but the information necessary to persuade authorities to conduct a full investigation is much harder to come by.

Enforcement agencies, such as the Fair Political Practices Commission and the district attorney’s office, lack the necessary personnel and funds to make prosecution of conflicts, and political corruption generally, a priority. As constructed, conflict of interest laws are almost entirely dependent upon the vigilance of citizens to report potential problems and lobby for enforcement of the law.

Prosecutions do occur, but they are newsworthy for their infrequency. The willingness of public officials to use positions of public authority to enhance their financial well-being is directly related to the infrequency of timely, serious, and vigorous prosecution by the authorities.

Orange County’s conflict-of-interest problems could be remedied if enforcement agencies acquired the political will and resources necessary to aggressively uncover and investigate potential violations and to scrupulously prosecute those charged. (Admittedly, prosecuting public officials can be troublesome for enforcement agents like district attorneys, who are themselves dependent upon the endorsements of other public officials for election.)

The FPPC and the D.A.’s office cannot accomplish this alone, they need the help of residents and new resources in their fight against public corruption. To do their job, the public needs increased availability and access to information about the financial dealings of its officials and of persons or corporations with business before public agencies.

Additionally, a special unit of the district attorney’s office should be established to deal exclusively with political corruption and to make it easier for the D.A. to prosecute conflict-of-interest violations.

To wage war against political corruption in Orange County we need to allocate sufficient public resources--time and money--to get the job done right. Yet resources alone won’t suffice. Courage and willpower by the agents of enforcement to rigorously pursue prosecution wherever it may lead is an essential prerequisite to cleaning up corruption. Finally, citizens in their capacity as electors must be unrelenting in their disapproval of conflict-of-interest violators and treat such public officials with the contempt they so richly deserve on election day.

Corruption in public life only survives when citizens tolerate it. A pervasive and destructive problem of corruption afflicts the body politic in Orange County. The time for toleration is over, excuses by public officials will work no longer. Hopefully, the time for decisive action by citizens and enforcement authorities has arrived.