ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an inquiry into the literature on public-sector ethics programs, and pursues a critical understanding of the break between compliance-based approaches and theoretically preferred methods of increasing ethical integrity, using the municipal government example of New York City as a point of reference. This chapter explores: What ethical aspects are emphasized by the New York City conflicts of interest program, and what does the New York City program suggest about the understanding that exists between government and the public? This chapter relies upon qualitative analysis of legal documents and official guidance, specifically a textual comparison of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Rules, and Ethics: A Plain Language Guide to Chapter 68, New York City's Conflicts of Interest Law, utilizing a multi-stage cycle of coding (hybrid descriptive/evaluative coding, axial coding). Both documents place an emphasis on prohibited behaviors and examples of what not to do, rather than providing a more deeply rooted or individually focused ethical scheme. Reliance on compliance approaches to public ethics in this case fails to address ethical capacity, and is symptomatic of the rift between a disheartened public and its government.
