It was a story that got very little notice. In fact, I almost overlooked it in a small corner on a back page of The New York Times. “House Ethics Official Steps Down,” (Oct. 15) the headline reads.  “The staff director and chief counsel of the independentOffice of Congressional Ethics in the House, Leo J. Wise, (pictured),  » Read more about: Little Notice,...

Angelo Mozilo, U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel, Tiger Woods, Quarterback Brett Favre, Governor Mark Sanford are just a few who have been involved in ethics-related scandals. “Why do powerful people with so much to lose push so hard to squeeze out a little more gain for themselves?” That’s the great question posed by Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Zweig recently. (Oct. 16). Zweig...

I like this guy. Alright, I’m not much of a groupie, but… if I were ever invited to The White House, the person I’d most like to meet would beNORM! “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing milk bone underwear.” No, not that Norm, but I have no doubt that Norm Eisen, President Obama’s “ethics czar,” probably feels that way most days.  » Read more...

Okay, that’s really a fancy way of saying that I’m going on vacation. Actually, I’m not going much of anywhere. What I will be doing is spending a lot more time, reading, thinking, and writing. I need some time away from a deadline to be able to step back and get some perspective. Looking at this year’s archive, here are a few...

“The primary purpose of journalism,” write Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book, The Elements of Journalism, “is to provide citizens with information they need to be free and self-governing.” However, the notion of a “free press” has taken on additional consequences with the explosion of information in an electronic age. “Certainly, the notion of the press as a gatekeeper,”...

From time to time, I’ve been asked about ethics resources and there are quite a few good ones out there. The Ethics Resource Center “is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, dedicated to independent research that advances high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions.” The ERC focuses its research in the areas of character education, federal policy, national surveys,  » Read more...

Basketball Coach John Wooden died last week. While Wooden was remembered for his spectacular coaching career at UCLA, what I remember most is his letter to me in 1999 for my book, What Do You Stand For? I had asked Wooden and others to respond to this questionnaire:  What do you stand for; what principles have you lived by?  Describe a ‘moment of...

From the category: If you live long enough… The New York Times reports (May 21) that the appearance of the Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall “has inspired a certain chant on the Avenue of the Americas… ‘Tickets for the Dalai Lama, TICKETS…’” New York’s famed theater has long been considered the gold standard for world class events (if you count the Grammys and...

Although faith is not an ethical value, its importance in driving ethical conduct should not be underestimated. In fact, the word faith comes from the Latin fidere meaning ‘to trust.’ According to the Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, “Faith is an attitude or belief which goes beyond the available evidence.” Trusting can sometimes be difficult, but it can uplift and strengthen our resolve...

You’d look like this too, if you had to sit before Chairman Carl Levin and the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations looking into alleged improprieties of investments and investment procedures by Wall Street banking and investment giant Goldman Sachs.  Get a load of the document bundle sitting in front of (self-named) “Fabulous Fab” Fabrice Tourre, the architect of the investment vehicle under SEC...