The End of It All

I am happy to announce that I have successfully concluded my first blog series. This was something that was very new and refreshing for me. It took me away from the routine writing of a research paper that I have not been given the option to skip out on since high school. I would like to first thank everyone who took the time out to read my blog. I really do think that I will continue with this blog maybe on another topic or I may continue with a different point of view. Writing a blog really does take you away from daily things and it allows you to sit down and write all of your thoughts out for the world to see. I recommend for anyone to write a blog even if it’s for a limited amount of viewers. 

On another note, let’s discuss personal and organizational ethics. While both are two separate things it is important to know that these two things cross paths in our everyday lives. We must learn how to separate the two and handle them both in a certain manner.

Personal ethics is very tricky because it varies by who you ask. There is always going to be something that I believe in that the next person may frown upon. This is fine because we all come from different backgrounds and had to grow up with different lifestyles. However there comes a time where we must put our personal ethics to the side and do was best for the public.

In the public sector we must do what is right for the people. We must do our best to promote fairness, diversity, and ensure that those around us are doing the same. Standing by and doing nothing is the same thing as partaking in the deviant behavior.  In addition, as public servants we must be able to do the job that is put forth on the table. Everything that people do in the public sector someone is always watching. People notice where you eat, who you are eating with, and other various details of our lives that we feel are private.

Many people take these public servant jobs thinking that they can do what they please. They fail to remember that they are no longer the voice for self, they are the voice of that organization as well as the people they are there to serve. Once we take that oath we vow to do everything in our power to be as ethically correct as possible. This means setting our own beliefs to the side, especially when we know that they are very different from those around us.  

A good rule of thumb to follow is the ASPA code of ethics. There are eight very generic codes that speaks so loudly to many different branches of public administration. It is so generic because it is also there to let everyone know that even though we have different titles we are all here to do one job. That job is to uplift and protect the citizens within our community.

Being a public servant will not be an easy job. Just reading about it can scare someone out of the field. As long as you have strong moral values one can survive in this field. It is those that come into it with no values or weak values that don’t last long.

At the end of the day morals and values are not things that you can buy. Some believe that it’s what we are born with. While others argue that it’s acquired over time. Whatever the case is we all need to stick to our principles and ensure that we let nothing alter the way we think. Going back to our first week in this course. The clip we watched told us that ethics are something that cannot be compromised. 

They Have Issues Too

     Since we were on the subject of our local county, city and state government I thought it would only be right to end it that way. While doing some research on the state ethics for Georgia I found something very informative. At the gubernatorial debate in October Governor Deal of Georgia stated, "the commission is plagued by confusion, dysfunction and inefficiency". 

 In order to fix this issue Governor Deal pledged to add additional people into The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (ethics commission). The issue I see with that is it WILL NOT fix the issue. The confusion that was once there will still be present, by adding additional people to the pot it will only cause those people to either have to choose sides or not want to be a part of the ordeal all together. 

    
      Ironically after being re-elected Governor Deal stated, “It’s functioning well." How could the commission go from being dysfunction to doing well in just a few months? No update was given as to how they all of a sudden fixed the issues. ''Classic bait and switch tactic. He's going back on his promise now that he's been re-elected,'' Common Cause Georgia Director William Perry said. Many are starting to believe that the governor only made that change to get more voted to win the election. He knew that claiming to fix any ethical issues would gain trust with the citizens.
    
      If this isn't the case I think that Deal owes the citizens a reason as to why he will no longer overhaul the commission. If it was in fact due to their recent success of fixing their own issues he needs to let the citizens know when, where, and how they did so. If he can’t provide that then he needs to step in and do as he promised the voters during re-election time. 

     If he doesn't do so he will not only cause the citizens to lose trust in him, this will cause them to lose trust in the government all together. A lot of people already don't vote because they feel like the political campaign is all talk and once in office nothing gets accomplished. In order to make this right for the future Deal needs to address this issue quickly. 

     The saddest part about the whole thing is that the commission did not seem to be dysfunctional until former members refused to discard documentation of an ethical claim placed on governor deal. Now three former individuals are currently in the process or have already received a portion of a 3 million dollar settlement. They said they were allegedly fired because they refused to lose this documentation. His opponent at the time Jimmy Carter stated, "As a taxpayer, I’m outraged that we’re now on the hook for three million dollars, and as a citizen, I’m embarrassed that this is happening in our state."

     Personally, after reading the articles I feel as the commission acted very ethical. Just because an ethical claim was made against the governor they still chose to review the claim as if it had been anyone else. The governor to me seems to be the one that has acted unethically and dysfunction. 

     If Deal wants anything to act ethically and function correctly he needs to start with self. It goes back to the old saying practice what you preach. How can he expect the commission to run effectively if he is trying to corrupt the process by having them throw out an ethical complaint?