New Orleans’ Ethics Review Board, chaired by the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, has been under much scrutiny lately over the revolving door of inspector generals.

The main role of the Ethics Review Board is to hire the city’s inspector general, the first of which whom, Robert Cerasoli, was recently criticized in an internal report for his record keeping, wasting thousands of dollars and hiring a former student with little experience for a top position. The report, commissioned by the first inspector general’s successor, Bob Odom, who quit the job in September, was questioned by a city ethics official.

“It is all being reviewed by the state auditor,” Wildes said. “They should have their report out soon. We will work with and live by their findings.”

Since the board was formed Wildes said they have been mainly setting up policies and procedures for how the board and the inspector general’s office should run. Other duties of the board include enforcing the city’s ethics code, referring cases for investigation to the inspector general, conduct hearings and issuing penalties. However, the board’s main focus has been getting the board and inspector general’s office opperating.

The Ethics Review Board is a volunteer-based committee of seven New Orleans citizens who are nominated by the local college presidents, appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin and then approved by the city council. The chairman of the board is voted on by its members, an election Wildes has won three years in a row.

Following Hurricane Katrina, city officials asked Wildes to the serve on a committee to judge government effectiveness and efficiency. While on the board Wildes discovered the city’s charter of ethics, which was created in the 1990s, were never implemented. In 2006, Mayor Nagin began to implement this city charter, which is when local college president nominated Wildes to be a member of the Ethics Review Board.

Wildes believes his past experience in health policies and medical ethics prepared him to chair a city ethics board. His background in bioethics led him to write health and accountability policies for public ethics, including papers he wrote for the White House on health care reform.

However, “A lot of the basic organizational stuff we needed you didn’t have to be an ethics genius to figure out,” Wildes said. “Not that I am an ethics genius.”

Wildes said much of what the board deals with are by-laws, meeting times and space issues. Wildes ran the board out of his Loyola office while it was in its infancy.

Watching the Watchmen

Though he has been chair for three years and said he’s able to prioritize his time between Loyola and the board, Wildes said he believes it is time for the board to see a change in leadership.

“One of the key things I think is a real test when you build an organization, is how well the organization does when you’re not there,” Wildes said. “Because if it doesn’t do well, then you haven’t built an organization, you’ve built something around your personality.”

Robert Cerasoli, the city’s first inspector general, resigned in Janurary citing health reasons and his replacement, Leonard Odom, announced he would resign in September right after releasing a report accusing Cerasoli of overspending in the inspector general’s office. The city’s first police monitor, Neely Moody, hired by Odom, also resigned after being serving for less than a month.

“I think some of the criticism, not from the media but from other groups, have not been fair or not been well-informed,” Wildes said. “I think once you explain things to people they understand.”

Wildes now believes that with Ed Quatruveaux starting as the city’s inspector general this month, that the board can now focus on two main issues: a cooperative endeavor agreement with the inspector general’s office and education for city employees. Wildes believes teaching the city’s ethics to its employees is the best way to prevent violations.

“The name of the game is not about getting people when they have done something wrong,” he said. “The real name of the game is about prevention.”

Wildes said he believes one of the biggest problems in ethics violations is the issue of conflicts of interest. He said he believes education can help prevent this.

“A lot times stuff happens that’s wrong probably because people don’t know they are crossing lines,” Wildes said.

Wildes will remain chair of the Ethics Review Board until their next election in August where he can either be reelected as chair or remain on the board as a regular member.
             
The Associated Press contributed to this report. John Adams can be reached at [email protected]