Former judge joins Palm Beach County’s new Ethics Commission

Former Circuit Court Judge Edward Rodgers was selected Wednesday as the latest addition to Palm Beach County’s new Ethics Commission. The appointed commission is charged with helping enforce new ethics rules county commissioners approved in December in response to corruption scandals that have plagued local government since 2006. Three county commissioners, along with two West Palm Beach city commissioners, have resigned and gone to prison amid a federal corruption probe. In December, county commissioners approved new ethics rules and created the Ethics Commission and office of inspector general – a full-time government watchdog charged with ferreting out waste and corruption. Rodgers, a former Riviera Beach city councilman, was appointed Wednesday by the Palm Beach County League of Cities. Other applicants for the league’s appointment to the volunteer Ethics Commission included former county commissioners Dennis Koehler and Ken Adams. In addition to Rodgers, recent appointees to the Ethics Commission include: former Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Reinhart, selected by the Palm Beach County Association of Chiefs of Police, and Florida Atlantic University Ethics Professor Robin Fiore, chosen by her university president. The five-member Ethics Commission will rule on ethics complaints

and lead ethics training efforts for government officials and employees. The Ethics Commission also makes up most of the selection committee that will recruit and choose the new inspector general. The county’s new ethics code – including tougher lobbying rules, gift limits for government officials and more disclosure requirements – takes effect May 1. The county plans to have a new inspector general hired by the spring. The county on Monday plans to post the job description and call for applicants for the new inspector general post, said David Baker, of the Palm Beach County Ethics Initiative – a coalition of business and civic organizations that pushed for new ethics rules. Baker on Wednesday praised the county for moving “quickly and efficiently” to implement the proposed reforms. “They are getting an early start on it,” Baker said. Palm Beach County CPA and attorney organizations get to fill the two remaining vacancies on the Ethics Commission. Various community groups were assigned the appointing duties to give the Ethics Commission more independence from county government.

View post:
Former judge joins Palm Beach County’s new Ethics Commission

Leave a comment

Name (required)

E-mail (required)

URI

Your Message