Dallas To Exempt Municipal District Board Members From Ethics Requirements?

Let me start out by clearly stating that I don't have nearly as much information or, consequently, clarity on this story as I'd like to...

That said, I'm hearing an uproar from folks in Texas about the apparent vote by the Dallas economic development committee to urge the city council to exempt members of municipal district boards from city ethics requirements. My information source so far is this piece in the Dallas Morning News and I'd like to think that there's far more to the story. If it's accurate, though, this seems to be a horrible case of trying to solve a very real problem (i.e the inherent conflicts of having stakeholders on these boards) by proposing a wildly inappropriate over-correction (i.e. exempting these folks from the entire range of ethics rules rather than simply modifying the rules if/as needed).

Perhaps everyone involved feels comfortable that this issue will be appropriately reviewed, revised, and otherwise dealt with at upcoming council meetings. But even allowing for that, council members and staffers need to consider that even the appearance of allowing stakeholders - perhaps especially such high stakes stakeholders - to skirt the rules cannot possibly inspire a perception of above-board council and district board actions. This isn't in any way based on an assumption that these district board members have or would ever act in bad faith - that isn't the point. What is the point is that cities cannot be in the business of saying that some folks need to obey the rules and others don't.

I have no doubt that the economic development council's only intention was to unlock an unfortunate 'catch-22' in city rules and it sounds like it very much needed to be done. However, unless what I'm hearing and reading is wrong, the city council will need to work quickly to assure the public that they aren't playing with ethical dynamite. In fact, even if there is more to the story than the public is hearing, the council will still need to make a concerted effort to show whatever that more-of-the-story might be. Perception is everything and, at least at the moment, the perception is that a vote affirming the economic development committee's recommendation would allow a set of highly invested stakeholders to act, should they choose, without regard for the city ethics ordinance. I can't think of a better recipe for damaging public trust.

Know more about this? Whether in the comments section of this blog or via email, please let me know.