New York Metropolitan Chapter ASPA NEWS

In 2002 we have a number of interesting events scheduled. We're planning to start February off with two back to back activities. The Mayor Ed Koch lecture series will be on February 6 and Redistricting & Reapportionment in New York State will be on February 7. (Please see the enclosed flyer and article below for more details).

Other events are in the planning stage. In addition, we are planning an interesting Annual Dinner and Meeting in June with special guest speakers. Details will be forthcoming. If anyone wishes to be involved in ASPA/NY activities our next council meeting will be held on February 28, 2002 at 6:00P.M. I would encourage anyone interested in the chapter, and especially anyone interested in being part of our future Governing Board to attend the meeting. If you wish to attend call me at work at 646-252-3820. This Chapter responds to our membership needs and interests and I strongly encourage you to get involved. See you this month!

Past Chapter President Gregg Van Ryzin will head the Chapter Elections Committee. Joining Mr. Van Ryzin on the Committee will be Steve Rolandi and Ray Joseph. Please send your nominations for Chapter Officers and Council Members for the 2002 - 2003 Program Year to Mr. Van Ryzin at: gregg_vanryzin@baruch.cuny.edu.

The Chapter recently joined the Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York. The Civic Alliance is a collection of over 100 civic, professional, community, labor, business, and university groups who have joined together to forge a common vision for rebuilding that represents the aspirations, memories, and pride of the city and region. For additional information, please visit the Chapter website at:
http://www.homestead.com/mvjnymetroaspa/index.html.

The Chapter is co-sponsoring the Koch Lecture Series with the Baruch College School of Public Affairs. The first lecture was held on October 17^th, 2001. The second lecture will be held on Wednesday, February 6^th, 2002 from 6:00PM to 8:00PM at the Baruch College Conference Center on 25^th Street, NYC.

For more information call the School of Public Affairs at 212-802-5900 or visit their web site at: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa

I took a break from this column during the fall.

In a recent email exchange by members of the ASPA ethics list service, there was extensive discussion of the matter of gift taking. The discussion arose out of a published account of a professor who took a gift from 3 former students a few days after graduation, a gift that would have been prohibited if they were still students.

This discussion provided intense examination of the bad motives and bad behaviors associated with gift taking. The essence of the matter is that gifts may serve as an inducement (that’s a bribe, when it is prohibited) for an official - including professors at public and not-for-profit universities - to reach a judgment that he or she would otherwise not reach, one that is beneficial to the gift giver.

I would be happy to forward the email exchange to anyone who emails me a specific request at ethicsprofessor@yahoo.com (there are a number of emails involved). The main point I intend to make by mentioning these emails is that one can elaborate on the possible forms of gifts, bad motives, evasions of prohibitions, and extension of prohibitions for a very long time. This elaboration reflects what some have called a rational-comprehensive approach to knowledge. However, as Herbert Simon showed over 60 years ago, the rational-comprehensive approach to knowledge is bound to fail, because the possibilities of knowledge - read here, elaboration of possible evasions of prohibitions requiring their own technical adjustment to rules - is unbounded, while the capacity of knowledge - rule making - is bounded. This difficulty, which earned him a Nobel Prize, is labeled "bounded rationality."

Bounded rationality is one reason why public administrationists should be cautious of "ethics," or the practice of regulating administrative behavior to guarantee that it complies with minimally accepted morality. There is, however, another reason, which is that "ethics" is a poor substitute for "Ethics." By "ethics," I intend to communicate just that sort of behavioral regulation that is embodied in rules about gift taking. Most modern organizations have such rules and they are needed. However, they serve a limited function, prohibiting very bad behavior. In other words, ethics regulations are for government activities what criminal law is for the general society. And, like criminal law, they are not the standard of good behavior.

It is a mistake to use criminal law to try to pen people into good behavior. Criminal law is, or should be, for prohibiting the intolerably bad. Good behavior requires more than just avoiding bad. Good behavior requires ideals, objectives, and a sense of striving. Good or bad behavior also requires what philosophers call "agency," that is, the ability to make decisions. Those who can make no decision are neither good nor bad. They are amoral, or if they use their decision-less state as an avoidance of responsibility, they might achieve badness.

For the public administrator, good, or "Ethical," behavior requires two things: (1) socially desirable ideals that require some striving on the part of the administrator, and (2) the discretion to pursue these ideals. Here, then, is the important difference between "ethics" and "Ethics"; the one protects us from the worst that can happen, while the other leads to the possibility of the best that can happen. Public administrationists need to focus more attention on the second, and less on the first. Do we worry about professors who take gifts from former students? If so, where do we stop?

You are invited to nominate candidates for the prestigious 2002 Luther Gulick Awards. These awards are part of our effort to recognize public servants for their contributions to the community. This year, the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) honors:

• an Outstanding Leader in Public Affairs
• an Outstanding Public Administrator
• an Outstanding Organization
• an Outstanding Academic
• an Outstanding Contribution to Volunteerism
• two Outstanding Students
• an exemplary illustration of a "Best Practice" in Public Administration

The nominee should have made significant contributions to the practice and/or study of public administration. The annual awards are named for Luther Gulick, one of the founders of ASPA and a major force in the field.

To be nominated, one simply has to satisfy the criteria established by the New York Metro Chapter of ASPA (see below). Nominees may be organizational leaders or executives, administrators or managers from the public or not-for-profit sectors; academics and students of public administration; individual volunteers or volunteer organizations or units; public or non-profit departments, agencies, bureaus, or units. Nominations can be made by persons within the same organization. Membership in the Society is not required; excellence is.

Please submit nominations to the Awards Committee in letter format by April 1, 2002. The letter should illustrate clearly how the nominee meets or exceeds the award criterion. Materials, citations, and/or references that substantiate the nominee’s accomplishments are welcome. Provision of contact information, name, address, and telephone number for both the nominee and the nominator is mandatory. Send nomination letters to Christian Meyer, 1468 Midland Avenue, Apt. 1B, Bronxville, New York 10708.

The Awards Committee will meet in April 2002 to review and evaluate all nominations. It will then submit a list of finalists to the New York Metropolitan Chapter ASPA Council for the selection of winners.

Award winners will be honored at the Annual Dinner scheduled for Spring 2002 (date and location to be announced).

For further information about the awards and dinner, please contact Christian Meyer at cmeyer868@aol.com or Carolyn Hubbard-Kamunanwire at (718) 595-3571.

Your participation in this event to commemorate the contributions of public servants to society displays your concern about recognizing the dedication of those committed to public management.

Must have risen to a position of leadership and prominence in public affairs. Those eligible will have a distinguished record of leadership as elected executives, legislators, or members of the judiciary; and/or as chief executive of a public agency, non-profit organization, and/or private firm. In addition to distinguished leadership, the recipient will have played a prominent role in policy making and/or implementation of programs addressing key issues in public affairs.

We welcome our newest members: Rachel Amols, Donald J. Barto, Amy Ciccarelli, Tarchia Ebanks, Peri A. Horowitz, Barry F. Markowitz, Usha Narasimhan, Marie Roman, Shanika A. Turner, Caroline N. Westbrook.

We encourage all Members to visit our Chapter web site at: http://www.homestead.com/mvjnymetroaspa/index.html. Members may also wish to visit the National ASPA web site at: http://www.aspanet.org.

If you received this Newsletter in the mail, then the Chapter does not have a valid e-mail address on record for you. Distributing the Chapter Newsletter via e-mail (as an MS-Word document file) saves paper and saves the Chapter postage and photocopying costs.

If you have an e-mail address to which we can send newsletters and other Chapter announcements, please send an e-mail message to Michael Jameson at mjame10644@aol.com.

February 6, 2002: Baruch College, CUNY, School of Public Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series on the Importance of Public Service: The Koch Lecture Series (6:00PM - 8:00PM, Baruch College Conference Center, 25^th Street, NYC)(For further information, please call the School of Public Affairs at 212-802-5900 or visit their website at: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa

February 7, 2002: Chapter Program Event: Redistricting & Reapportionment in New York State -- 2002 (6:00PM - 8:00PM, Baruch College School of Public Affairs, The Oak Room (Second Floor), 137 East 22^nd Street, NYC). Please RSVP to Ed Falterman at 212-642-9465 or email falterman1@aol.com.

February 6 - 10, 2002: Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA) 2002 Conference (Jackson, MS) (Contact: Marshall Taggart, mtaggart@cityofchicago.org)

February 7 - 9, 2002: Teaching Public Administration Conference (Knoxville, TN) (Contact: Bob Cunningham, rcunning@utk.edu)

February 11 - 12, 2002: The Innovation Conference (Theme: Meeting the Challenge of Innovation in Government) (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) (Contact: CCMD, lilyc@ccmd-ccg-gc.ca)

March 6 - 10, 2002: The Association for Quality and Participation (AQP) 24^th Annual Spring Conference and Resource Mart ((Las Vegas, NV) (Contact: AQP via e-mail at info@aqp.org)

March 23 - 26, 2002: ASPA's 63rd National Conference: Public Service -- Public Trust (Phoenix, AZ) (Contact: www.aspanet.org)

http://www.homestead.com/mvjnymetroaspa/index.html

http://www.aspanet.org

RSVP to Ed Falterman at (212) 642-9465 or email him at falterman1@aol.com