Nick Mosby, Wes Moore present contrast in ethics
A college professor could scarcely have designed a better lesson on ethics than the one demonstrated this week by Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby and Gov. Wes Moore. On Monday, the former got slapped down by a circuit court judge for unethical behavior related to the legal defense fund established to help him and his wife, Marilyn Mosby, the former city state’s attorney facing federal mortgage fraud and perjury charges. Two days later, the latter recused himself from voting, as one of three members of the state Board of Public Works, on a contract that would benefit Under Armour, the Baltimore-based company on whose board he once served. Not only has the governor pledged to remove himself from any decision where he has a financial stake (in this case as a UA shareholder), but he is in the process of setting his investments in a blind trust so he will have no knowledge of what he owns or does not own, the trust manager having the power to buy and sell.
Such behavior matters. It matters quite a bit. No doubt there are still supporters of Council President Mosby who see a legal defense fund as a benign thing — and for average people, asking others to donate to help pay their legal bills could well be. But serving in elected office is different. There are rules to be followed, some of them sensitive to the opportunity to curry favor with people in power. Is it difficult to believe a government contractor, for example, might not see this as a chance to get in a council president’s good graces with a hefty check? Perhaps even to steer a lucrative contract their way sometime in the future? Maryland politics are rife with examples. And one doesn’t have to look particularly far given the travails of former Mayor Catherine Pugh who wrapped up her time in federal prison just one year ago on conspiracy, perjury and tax evasion charges related to her self-dealing “Healthy Holly” children’s book scheme.
It is one thing to be unaware of how such rules work. It is quite another to fight the city’s ethics board tooth and nail once it has ruled that you violated the rules as the council president has. On Monday, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill concluded that Mosby had, in fact, violated city ethics laws including failing to report the legal defense fund’s existence on his disclosure forms. And while paperwork can s be challenging, let us not forget that those who serve in high office have access to lawyers with all kinds of legal expertise. Not certain about what you have to disclose? Whether at City Hall or the Maryland State House, you can simply pick up a phone (or even walk down the hall) and find someone who probably wrote a doctoral dissertation on the subject. In many cases, if the legal question concerns matters within the scope of your duties, tax dollars can even be used to pay for outside
counsel. Such are the advantages of running a government with thousands of employees spending billions of tax dollars.
If “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion,” as the proverb goes, shouldn’t a couple like the Mosbys with dual public roles have taken extraordinary precautions? This remains one of the vexing questions of their circumstances. Whatever the outcome of the former state’s attorney’s trial — whenever that finally happens and whoever ends up representing her — there’s surely a cautionary tale here in incautious behavior. And, by the way, that’s not to give Governor Moore a free pass simply because he’s taken this relatively modest and expected first step early in his administration, especially after talking so much about transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest during the campaign. Maryland has seen its share of governors fail to follow the straight-and-narrow path including Spiro Agnew and Marvin Mandel. Avoiding taxes on corrupt kickbacks and manipulating racetrack values for friends are proven pitfalls. Let us hope that those days are past.
Ultimately, ethics comes down to accountability. Following ethics rules ensures that elected officials are performing the duties of their office with integrity and in the manner their constituents have a right to expect.
Even the appearance of impropriety matters. The governor gets this. Perhaps after this week, the City Council president will too.