Avoiding the Appearance of Impropriety

With all of the recent news about elected officials embroiled in ethics violations and conflicts of interest (Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, Seattle City Councilmember Richard McIver), it’s a good time to remember that even if a particular action is legal, it may not be appropriate if it would appear to a reasonable person to create an ethical conflict of interest.

What applies for elected officials also applies for those employees of public agencies who deal with contractors and consultants.

For example, let’s say that you’re planning to remodel your house. You’re looking for a good architect or contractor to help you. From your work, you deal with architects and contractors all the time, either as a contracting professional or a project manager or maybe a construction inspector. Would it be acceptable for you to hire one of the architects or contractors you know through your work connection to work on your house?

Depending on your agency’s regulations, it probably isn’t illegal to do so. However, it certainly creates the appearance of a conflict of interest from at least two perspectives.

1. There may be the impression, whether true or not, that the architect or contractor is giving you a discounted price on your home remodel.
   
2. Second, there may be the impression that your judgment will somehow be impaired when you interact with them at work and that you are granting them special favors, or helping them get selected in the first place.
   

It’s very important to step back from these situations and think about how a story about you using an architect or contractor you deal with at work on your home remodel would play out on the front page of the newspaper. How would people likely react?

Ethics isn’t always just about what’s legal. It’s about what appears to be proper. And once you’ve been accused of something improper, even if it’s legal, it will be hard to dig yourself out of this ethical hole and preserve your reputation and the reputation of your public agency.