ABSTRACT
The author examines the extensive array of local, state, and federal legislative mandates and compliance systems in the United States and reviews the increasing incursion of federal mandates on state and local ethics systems. The results may be beneficial to the public interest, but harmful to the continuing authority of subservient agencies, and may result in the emergence of a larger geographic scale of corruption corresponding to negative and powerful political motivations at a higher level of government. The variable currently creating complexity in the United States may well be the question (or absence) of national political leadership to continue support and leadership for the values of current standards of integrity. At the federal level, there is a multitude of agencies providing oversight of federal departments and their programs, representing opportunities for identifying government efficiencies, wasteful programs and a presence that works toward integrity in governance. Sustaining economic development in the nation’s metropolitan areas has continued to drive the nation’s economy, with the addition of expanding infrastructure into the suburbs and the dispersion of large technology firms throughout the nation. Planning and zoning activities in thousands of communities continue to offer illicit and unethical public and political decisions. Moreover, maintaining enduring improvements in oversight are tested by national inroads challenging efforts to maintain high levels of ethical conduct in national, state and local government levels, and to maintain a national culture of professionalism in the public service.
