Springfield’s Ethics Ordinance debate has caught my attention lately. Debate may be the wrong word here. As a casual observer of this issue, I have not heard or read any debate, only rigid advocacy. I think public policies should be discussed and debated, not bought and sold. The lack of reasoned debate on this is a shame; mostly because on an issue as complex as government ethics, the debate is often more productive than the proposed remedies, the impacts of which are never as clear as is hoped for or intended.
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