Politics and Managerial Ethics

>There has been a long standing belief that public managers, especially those protected by civil service laws and ordinances, should not engage in political activities nor voice their views on important public policy issues of the day. Professional public managers, so the conventional wisdom goes, cannot and should not entangle themselves in electioneering or other sundry political and public policy matters that are expected of ordinary citizens. The Hatch Act of 1939, for example, although now liberalized, placed severe restrictions on the political voice and activities of federal employees.

>At the local level, the political activities of city managers has long been a source of some confusion and contention. The ICMA Code of Ethics states that members should "refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators." Above all the ICMA Code admonishes managers to not participate in the election of the members of the employing legislative body and as of September 15, 2000, shall not themselves run for elected office. Managers running for office while holding appointed administrative positions? Yes, it happens. One manager defended his recent decision to run for political office while simultaneously serving as an assistant city manager by claiming that it was not a violation of the Code because he was not running for the city council in the city he served.

>At its 2000 annual conference in Cincinnati, the ICMA Executive Board revised the guidelines for Tenet 7 Political Activity by declaring that "members shall not participate in political activities to support the candidacy of individuals running for any city, county, special district, school, state or federal offices. Specifically, they shall not endorse candidates, make financial contributions, sign or circulate petitions, or participate in fund-raising activities for individuals seeking or holding elected office." The ICMA revisions, however, do encourage members to exercise their "right and responsibility to vote and to voice their opinion on public issues."

>Encouraging professional public managers "to voice their opinion on public issues" is certainly meritorious but it may also be contentious and could lead to another revision in the years ahead.