THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The Allen administration could use an introductory course in government ethics: Conflict of Interest 101.
The main lesson would be this:
When you work for the government of Virginia, you serve Virginians - not yourself and not the Republican or Democratic Party.
Several case studies spring to mind.
Frederick T. Dykes, one of three members of the powerful state Alcohol Beverage Control Board, was looking out for himself when he proposed to two companies that they join him in a venture to produce and distribute alcoholic fruit drinks.
Dykes, an Allen appointee, said scouting business opportunities in the industry he regulated was proper because he intended to quit the ABC before seeking an ABC license.
``I didn't do anything illegal, unethical or improper,'' Dykes said.
Dykes succumbed to what the sociologist C. Wright Mills called ``the persistence of the entrepreneurial urge in the bureaucratic situation.''
The Washington Post reported last Sunday that Dykes resigned Nov. 27, just hours after an Allen Cabinet official called to question him about complaints from two companies that Dykes had asked them to join him in his venture.
While declining to name the companies he approached, Dykes said one is a bottler of nonalcoholic drinks in Virginia and the other is an out-of-state distiller that supplies a Virginia company.
Public Safety Secretary Jerry W. Kilgore, who oversees the ABC, was told by the state attorney general's office that no criminal violation occurred because neither company had contracts with the ABC.
But it is hardly a ringing endorsement to say a public official has committed no criminal violations. They ought to be held to a higher standard than that. Even the appearance of impropriety is an indication of a lapse of attention. At best, Dykes' action revealed an ethical obtuseness unacceptable in public office.
Earlier this month, Secretary of Administration Michael E. Thomas, the governor's right-hand man, withdrew as a candidate for Virginia Republican chairman. Although he withdrew under fire, neither he nor Allen saw any conflict in his holding both the high state office and the state Republican chairmanship simultaneously.
Critics noted that Thomas served all Virginians as secretary of administration but as Republican chairman would serve only Republicans. Perhaps Allen and Thomas saw no conflict because they believe what is best for Republicans is best for all Virginians. Democrats and independents would beg to differ.
Last fall, Allen's political-action committee accepted $125,000 from a company facing state fines for polluting. The money was used to help elect Republican candidates in this past fall's General Assembly race. When Allen's PAC accepted the $125,000, it created the appearance of a conflict of interest - one Allen declined to acknowledge.
These three cases - and there are more - have in common a confusion of partisan advantage and public administration, of self-interest and the public interest. Virginians shouldn't have to wonder who their public servants are serving. But members of the Allen administration keep raising doubts by their inability to keep state business, party business and their own personal business separate.
To repeat the main lesson:
When you work for the government of Virginia, you serve Virginians - not yourself and not the Republican or Democratic Party. by CNB