| mySPIN |
 Your Mamma’s Ethics Bill
by Tom Campbell
July 26, 2007
“My mamma was watching that,” Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Benning) winces to President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) in one of my favorite movies, “The American President.” Wade had just been maliciously attacked by Shepherd’s political opponent, and her statement says it all. Like most of us, she worried about how her mamma would react to any action considered dishonorable.
In light of all the ethics and corruption scandals in the public sector of North Carolina over the past few years, it is obvious we’ve set the bar too low for acceptable behavior. When questioned about their ethics in a given situation, officials tell us that the action was legal, meaning there is no law that says it is illegal. But just because it is technically legal doesn’t make it morally or practically correct. Perhaps we need a new litmus test. For the sake of simplicity and ease of understanding, let’s call it the “mamma test.”
Mamma always talked to us about right and wrong, what we should and shouldn’t do, and how we ought to behave, even when nobody was looking. The question we should be answering is what would mamma think if she knew what you were doing? Would she care whether it was legal or insist on your doing the right thing?
This common sense approach could serve our legislature well. For instance, how would mamma respond to a well-heeled lobbyist making a supposed “loan” of a half-million dollars? Or directing taxpayer funding to an organization for which you work or serve as a board member? How would mamma respond to conducting the public’s business behind closed doors? There’s no point in even contemplating what mamma would say about accepting cash in a bathroom.
Applying this “mamma test” might help as we decide whether hearings for purported ethical violations by a legislator should be open to the public. It could help in considering the current practice of skirting campaign contribution laws by allowing unlimited political contributions from political parties, or in allowing lobbyists to stage fundraisers for legislators. It could easily govern a debate about how long a Speaker or President Pro Tem should be allowed to serve.
The great American philosopher Mark Twain obviously listened to his mamma. “Do the right thing,” he said. “It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” The crisis of confidence in our public officials evidences itself by a lack of participation in the electoral process, and when the majority decide to opt out, as we are witnessing with increasing concern, those who do remain may not be the best ones to make decisions for us.
Sir Winston Churchill was noted for saying, “The Americans will always do the right thing…after they have exhausted all the alternatives.” The Rotary Club has the “Four Way Test,” the Bible contains The Golden Rule, and most every professional organization has a code of ethics intended to help guide our actions. It is increasingly obvious many are neglecting these guides. It is time to let mamma be our guide for ethical conduct. As we consider further ethics legislation, let’s ask what would mamma say? |
|
