This year there [has] been some discussion about potential ethics violations regarding the Bothell City Council.

It is the job of a City Council to have an ethics policy that is airtight, so that none of its counsel members can use their position for their own personal advantage or gain. However, no airtight ethics code will deter an unethical person or group when ethics code violations are not brought to light or enforced.

When noting a loophole in an ethics policy, it is the job of every councilmember to fill that loophole with appropriate language so that they are prevented from taking personal advantage of or making a personal gain from that loophole to the detriment and expense of the citizens.

It is the moral job [of] every council member, the city attorney, and the city manager to see to it that all ethics code loopholes are filled by using the greatest diligence for the greatest good of the citizens.

One of the keys to any viable ethics policy is the concept of independence; independence in fact from other council members, citizens and vendors in their public, business and personal lives, and, once that hurdle has been cleared, independence in appearance in all dealings from with same parties.

In addition, it is the duty of each council member to speak up when a potential violation of independence in fact or independence in appearance could occur so that an actual violation does not occur. The City Council is responsible for monitoring each other for the good of the citizens, which is called whistle blowing before the fact.

No councilmember should ever have been allowed to have been the personal or business attorney for another councilmember. For while this surely does not clear the hurdle of independence in appearance, it can lead to the lack of independence in fact through the failure to fill noted and researched loopholes that could lead to personal gain at the expense of the citizens.

One of the councilmembers has asked that the ethics code be rewritten to fill all of the loopholes. That process should take the city attorney less than a year with the free help of third-year law students within Washington’s law schools since the ethics codes of all of the major cities in Washington and in the United States are displayed on their websites.

In addition, a procedure should be put in place that requires each councilmember to annually read the ethics code as a reminder of the ethical responsibilities of the City Council.

Franklin Roosevelt said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

Bothell does not need leaders who know how to wheel and deal; it deserves leaders who are morally wise and can lead ethically, for only good will be the result of their decisions for the citizens.

Since it is now election time, I will only vote for an ethical person who wants an airtight ethics policy for the City Council so that I, or any other citizen, am not taken advantage of.

Hans Kasper, Bothell