What you can do to improve our government

COMMENTARY: We have the multiple TASER investigations, the latest by Albuquerque’s Inspector General. And now we have the Doña County Clerk’s office investigation. It was good to see the clerk’s office is committed to making this right; however, it is disturbing that there is a systemic breakdown of trust.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reported, “County Sheriff Enrique ‘Kiki’ Vigil told commissioners that his department has been swamped with calls from other county employees alleging other wrongdoing throughout county operations. He said county employees don’t have faith in an anonymous hot line that is in place for people to report wrongdoing in county government.”

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The first step is acknowledgement of the problem and a public commitment to correcting any improprieties.

Institutional corruption is defined by Larry Lessig “as a deviation from the purpose of the organization. This is shown graphically by a compass pointing north — true north is the purpose of the organization; if you get pulled off of true north (like with a magnet pulling the compass off of north), that represents corrupting influences.”

This is no longer acceptable in the “new world,” where ethical and transparent governments will attract businesses. Those that aren’t ethical and transparent will falter, and ultimately so will their economies.

As Jeffrey D. Sachs states in his article The Impunity Trap, “Recent studies have shown that when ‘generalized trust’ in society is high, economic performance is improved and life satisfaction is higher. Among other reasons, commercial agreements are more easily reached and efficiently implemented.”

A model for change

If you desire to improve our government, focus on the root of the dysfunction, institutional corruption.

Here is a model I have found effective for implementing an ethics plan with the City of Albuquerque, which will ultimately provide training to all city employees, hold them accountable, and institute an effective whistleblower policy. You can also use this model if your advocacy and cause is for something more specific or different.

It should be noted that the Inspector General’s report on TASER recommends “ethics training for all City employees, especially those involved in the procurement process, to include personnel involved in pilot programs.”

Here’s what to do:

  1. Start with the government’s website to see what they specifically state about ethics and transparency. Almost all governments will have something stated about this. You can hold them accountable to their statements.
  2. Create a petition and share with friends, social media and mainstream media to gain support. Here’s one example.
  3. Continue to publicly comment at your government meetings, requesting action at the end of your comments until you get a commitment. Video record your comments and their responses, if any. Post them on YouTube. It will be a good documentation of the evolution you will see as you progress with your advocacy. It’s important to continue to make public comment until they offer you an action. This may take time because they may need to digest the issue and how best to effectively respond to you. Be creative in your comments, stating facts and reasoning why your cause is important enough for them to acknowledge a response. Be patient and polite. They will, in time, offer a meeting with you or an offer to articulate your idea in an email to them.
  4. Get continued support as you progress from both mainstream and social media.
  5. Once a government leader is willing to commit, ask them to issue a press release.
  6. Continue to meet, email and work with the members of the government team assigned to your cause. Hopefully they will gladly provide minutes of meetings, timelines, progress reports, etc. If not, do public records requests to obtain the information. They are required by law to provide that to you.
  7. Follow through with your cause until you are satisfied that the change you want has come to fruition.

Resources

Here’s more information on the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA).

Here is video of an IPRA training from Charles Arasim’s YouTube channel:

And video of an OMA training on Charles Arasim’s YouTube channel:

You can make our society better

You can make our government, and ultimately our society, better. This is a democracy and the laws are in place. You just need to act.

This is a call to action for boomers who want a better life for their children and grandchildren, millennials who want a better future for your children, university and high school students looking for a project where you can see your impact, and for anyone with time that would like to have more purpose in your life.

One word of caution: It’s important not to confuse your cause with a person or their political affiliation. It is a distraction from the real issues. For example, the issue is not “remove the leader” or “get more Republicans or more Democrats in office” or “throw all of them out” or “Koch Brothers.”  Focus on the issues that will allow you to get the specific change you desire.

You might be surprised that through this process you will also change your opinions and see that there are good intentions in most everyone, just a different knowledge base and perspective. Think about it this way:

  • What is the focus of what you specifically want changed?
  • Why do you think it should be changed?
  • Which government leader do you believe could take responsibility for oversight of the change?

Suggest how you think it should changed to make our government more effective, efficient and ethical.

It works! You can make a difference. It’s also quite rewarding when you see the fruits of your persistence and hard work to make New Mexico better.

Incidentally, you can find a lot of good information on government ethics, including government ethics essentials, a downloadable guide book, an ethics program, an ethics course and training tools, all free, at cityethics.org. It’s worth exploring if you have an interest in an ethical government.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the tools that are available, I can be reached at govethics@protonmail.com.

Goodman is a citizen advocating to make New Mexico better by continuously improving our government and providing a better future for our children and the future of New Mexico.

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