Should Boca Raton Adopt Ethics Reform too?

Palm Beach County unveils more corruption reform proposals
By Andy Reid South Florida Sun-Sentinel September 23, 2009

As new corruption scandals rocked Broward County government Wednesday, Palm Beach County officials were already working on corruption reforms coming in response to misdeeds that plagued local government in recent years. Palm Beach County cornered the market on South Florida public corruption scandals in recent years, with three former county commissioners going off to prison since 2006 along with two former West Palm Beach officials.

Palm Beach County Attorney Denise Nieman Wednesday unveiled more details about the county's proposed corruption reforms, some of which, as expected, remain at odds with a reform plan pushed by a coalition of business groups. That sets up the prospect of dueling referendums for how to address corruption concerns going before Palm Beach County voters -- a confusing prospect that both county officials and business leaders say they will try to avoid.In the meantime, officials contend that the reforms in the works for Palm Beach County could be a good fit for Broward, where a county commissioner, school board member and a former Miramar commissioner were arrested Wednesday on corruption charges.

Reforms proposed in Palm Beach County include: tougher ethics laws and education, forming a county Ethics Commission and hiring an inspector general to serve as a full-time government watchdog. "An inspector general type of operation is necessary," said Paul Zacks, chief assistant state attorney in the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, who helped lead a grand jury review of Palm Beach County corruption problems. "The government entities don't seem to do a real good job of self policing."Corruption scandals, and reforms that could help avoid them, are not unique to Palm Beach County, said Palm Beach County Commissioner Shelley Vana. "Not to make light of it, but it is human nature," Vana said. "Human beings will derail. ... It's good to put in safeguards."

County commissioners in July agreed to the grand jury's top proposal, establishing an Office of Inspector General. The commission also endorsed creating of an ethics commission and tougher ethics rules. The measures rolled out Wednesday by the county attorney's office are the proposed ordinances that would put those reforms in place for commission-controlled branches of county government. County commissioners would vote on the ordinances in December and the county would push for a referendum in November 2010 to broaden the reach of those reforms to cities, the school district and other branches of local government.

A coalition of business leaders last week presented a competing plan that also mirrors the grand jury recommendations, but gives more oversight power to the proposed ethics commission, instead of the County Commission.For example, the ethics commission would hire, oversee and have the power to fire the new inspector general, not the County Commission.The county proposals rolled out Wednesday are "just a start," Nieman said, with talks planned between county officials and business leaders to try to work out the differences. Business leaders have said they would need to start gathering petitions in November to force a referendum the following year. "We are embarrassed. We don't like Palm Beach County being called 'Corruption County,' " said Marty Rogol, of Leadership Palm Beach County. The business group also includes the Business Forum, Economic Council and the Voters Coalition. "This is a long-term thing ... changing the culture," he said.