Scary stories, no s'mores at politicians' ethics camp

Calif. university hosts 2-day event

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. -- The campers gathered eagerly in a circle, awaiting scary stories, albeit without s'mores.

The tales were as chilling as Edgar Allan Poe. There was the mayor in Waldron, Ark., who had assignations with a prostitute and gave her a break on her city water bill. And the account of the technologist from the New York City medical examiners' office who, in the face of a national tragedy, bilked the city out of millions of federal dollars.

Such tales of real-life corruption were what passed for fun at the Ethics Camp for politicians and public officials at Santa Clara University.

The two-day camp, at which counselors wore moral compasses, was perhaps the most novel attempt at creating "a culture of ethics and accountability," said Judy Nadler, former mayor of Santa Clara and a senior fellow at the university's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the host and sponsor.

At a time when Jack Abramoff and Enron have become household names, the two dozen or so campers -- including several city council members and several ethics officers from Texas and Arizona -- were a veritable optimists' club.

Among them was Joanne SawyerKnoll, who just took the job of deputy chief operating officer of the new Office of Ethics and Integrity for San Diego, a city scandalized by its $1.7 billion shortfall in its municipal employee pension funds.

SawyerKnoll, the former general counsel for the San Diego Unified School District, came to camp for support in her mission. She said she hopes to offer ethics education for more than 11,000 city employees.

"The public trust has been broken," SawyerKnoll said. "Ethics have become as necessary for cities as public works and homeland security."

The camp, which the university plans as an annual event, reflects a burgeoning municipal ethics movement. Over the past five years, for instance, those who serve as "city ethics officer" -- there are about 15 now -- have joined state and city ethics commissions, federal prosecutors, whistle-blower hot lines and inspectors-general in an effort to stop municipal ethical lapses before they start.

Among the camp's show-and-tell was an Enron ethics T-shirt, purchased on eBay, emblazoned with the words "respect" and "integrity." And instead of synchronized swimming and lanyards, there was talk about creating time for moral reflection and exercises on "taking ethics to the next level."

One exercise was a variation on the game red light/green light, in which campers weighed in on what to do if you meet a constituent who informs you that a fellow council member's proposal would benefit that council member's brother.