As an ethics keynote speaker, ethics consultant and ethics book author, I am often asked why politics are “so crooked?” The reputation of politicians, I fear, is sometimes deserved and often an ingrained culture perpetuates the problem.
The culture
An unethical culture is clearly and unfortunately in place among Los Angeles city councilmembers. According to USA TODAY (June 13, 2023), the latest councilmember to step down is Curren Price, Jr. who prosecutors charged with “five counts of embezzlement of government funds, three counts of perjury…”
In case no one is fully cognizant, “government funds” ultimately refers to taxpayer money, which is you and me. While Price is stepping down from his role as the president of the Los Angeles City Council, he is unwilling to resign. Said Price:
“While I navigate through the judicial system to defend my name against unwarranted charges filed against me, the last thing I want to do is be a distraction to the people’s business.”
Price is certainly not the first city council member to be charged. However, his actions are allegedly more outrageous than most. He has been charged with voting on a spousal payment of nearly $34,000 in medical benefits “for his now wife while he was still married to another woman.” The article also detailed that his first wife allegedly received “$150,000 from developers before he voted to approve projects between 2019 and 2021.”
The current scandal follows last year’s racism scandal pitting Blacks, Latinos and whites against one another, a March 2023 scandal charging a council member with and conspiracy, bribery, and fraud and yet another scandal with “providing political support for ‘lucrative county contracts and contract amendments,’” done in exchange of course for benefits for family members.
What do we expect?
As an ethics keynote speaker, ethics consultant and ethics book author, I often ask my audiences, “What do we expect?” In recent years, we the people have expected far too little. The question is one of why?
Often there is an attitude of “let the politicians take care of all of the political stuff.” In doing so, constituents in places like Los Angeles allow the daily business of politics to run with little oversight. It doesn’t help that many of those in politics are (sometimes unethical) lawyers who learned long ago they can obfuscate their actions behind legalize and holes in the very laws they have written.
In this series of scandals, voters may not necessarily (and personally) lose money however, the policies set in place may exert influence on their social or even healthcare institutions and communities.
What voters might expect is that politicians will always do the right things when in fact. Some don’t. We are often taken in by image or fanciful words both of which are unrelated to actions and good works. So, when a favored politician votes a sum of money for benefits of an unrelated family member, or rakes in a six-figure payoff for approving a construction project, we may ultimately be surprised.
The most cynical among us may shrug and say, “well that’s the way they are.” As an ethics keynote speaker, ethics consultant and ethics book author, I can say, such is a dangerous assumption and a pessimistic view.
The social expectations should match ethical hopes. However, that outcome can only happen through ethical training, ethical review and ethical standards. If the constituencies within their fields of employment must undergo ethical training, so should their politicians, and that isn’t happening.
There is little shock as to what has happened to the integrity of Los Angeles politics save for how often scandals have occurred and voters have been defrauded.
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