This research examines whether local government has more ethical accountability than the federal level. This issue will be addressed first by describing the movement toward developing ethical codes for governmental officials, followed by an analysis of the "reinventing government" movement that has heightened the accountability of local governments.
Talking about ethical issues is easier than defining ethics to everyone's satisfaction. Because subjective judgments of competing values are involved, individual interpretations are characterized by continuing disagreement, ambiguity, and uncertainty. However, societies tend to accept ethical issues as linked to a code of conduct. In the case of business associations and government bodies, this code may be formalized in a written document, although the population at large follows an informal code of ethical conduct.
How do governments define what is ethics and ethical behavior in office? The answer must somehow distinguish between private and public worlds and must illuminate the practice of management. Undergirding any understanding of public management is an ethical foundation. These different ethical obligations, as compared with those of a private citizen, are often the only useful distinctions between public and private administration. In this era of reinvention, public managers who ignore their ethical compass can destroy their careers, undermine programs or endanger the survival of entire agencies. The practice of public management is radically dependent on ethical frameworks and cues (Cooper, 1990, pp. 59-62).
Though once relatively uncommon, public management today is almost always subject to strict laws and regulations that dictate proper behavior. These codes are passed by federal, state, or local governments and impose a series of obligations on their employees which are often called "ethics codes" or "standards of conduct." Often these codes emphasize financial c...