What Cost Ethics?

Apparently ethics is a luxury, something to be afforded only when money flows like water or if it comes at a very small price. Or so one would conclude from the statements coming out of City Hall.

These statements generally revolve around "waste of time and money" which is a bit difficult for the general population to abide as this is the same city that pissed away five million dollars on the Peachford Property to nowhere. The money pissed away on purloined branding and logos, while pale in comparison to the Peachford fiasco, nonetheless dwarfs the "cost of ethics". Ensuring the public is well served and in an ethical manner is money well spent.

More troubling are the comments taking the "no harm no foul" tack which asserts that since the likely penalty is small, the actual offense must be minor and no money, or even effort, should be "wasted" in review or remediation. This kind of reasoning is consistent with not investigating murders because it won't bring the victim back to life. Is someone at City Hall suggesting we've spent far too much on investigating a double homicide? Probably not since all Smart People know that balancing the scales of justice is not done by stacking coins on each side.

Perhaps we need to remind City Hall that this kerfuffle is of their own making. To hire friends and family is something we like to condemn as we point our wagging fingers towards Decatur, but it is a time bomb we built with a fuze we lit. Choosing comradery over competence is always a poor selection and that this bomb blew up splattering muck all over the City should come as no surprise. It is more surprising how little damage was inflicted and how little it has cost.

Cleaning up this mess and doing it properly is non-negotiable. We deserve no less than transparency and absolute certainty that our elected officials and city employees are held to the highest standards and subject to the severest consequences when they fail their duty. And as sure as the sun rises in the morn there will be a move afoot to "fix" our ethics ordinances. The Citizens of Dunwoody must be on high alert because when politicians lower the ethical standard to which they are held, it is impossible to ever raise that bar.