Fred, while I can't say I have encountered outright illegality in my career
(although there are a few instances where I've had suspicions), I can say
that unethical behavior has been a recurring experience. Anytime you operate
in the kind of unstable budgetary environment that has marked the majority
of my career, its fair to say that you are occupying shark infested waters.
There have been plenty of unscrupulous people out there that see that "low
level" records management program as ripe for the picking, and have no
compunction about lying, intimidating, threatening, and mis-characterizing
every aspect of what they or you do to achieve their ends. I've been accused
of everything from being investigated by the FBI for forgery to on the job
drug dealing. At one point, I actually received a threat against my wife at
home - literally "play ball with us because we know where you live". There
are times where I shake my head in amazement - we're talking about local
government, folks - this isn't "Dallas" for crying out loud!

Very early in my career, I was a very adept political operator. I was savvy,
and "knew the score" and how to "play the game".  At some point, however, I
also realized that this was not my vision of public service. In spite of the
success I was experiencing, my heart wasn't in it, and I really changed my
whole approach and outlook on how to do my job. I realized that "playing the
game" sets you up for potential failure; the only way to win "the game" is
not to play it at all. For example, the whole purpose of the threats, the
phony numbers, the intimidation is to get you to counter-respond in like
manner, at which point the sincere denials will ensue, and, given that  the
source of these actions are often from higher levels than I am at, your
response will be interpreted as a sign of your utter lack of professionalism
and reinforce the mis-characterizations. Unethical people are always trying
to escalate the situation, to increase the distractions, to illicit over the
top responses. I don't fall for it.

I have found the best response to unethical behavior is to consistently
model the opposite. I have confidence that what I do is consistently in the
public interest, and as matters develop, that consistency stands in stark
contrast to self serving behavior. I am totally transparent with my staff,
my management, and our customers. We don't fudge the numbers or cook the
books in any way. When something goes wrong, I take personal responsibility;
when something goes right, I always attribute that success to the team. I
treat county employees at every level with the same courtesy kindness, and
concern I would like to receive.  I put a lot of effort into strategic
thinking, and trying to anticipate where we will be at 5 years from now, in
as honest a way as possible. I am constantly questioning our basic
assumptions.I pay attention to and respect election results. That's why I
have the confidence I have.

So, for example, when every other section in your division is asked to
propose cuts to their sections, and they all respond with proposed cuts to
the records program, I respond with proposed cuts to the records program,
and provide the helpful and cheerful suggestion that we might get more value
out of the exercise if they focused on their own areas of responsibility.
When some highly paid party comes in with a "bold vision" that eliminates
the "low level clerks" in records, I respond with an even bolder vision
based on my professional experience, integrity, and adherence to public
service, and generally blow them out of the water. When someone hits you
with phony numbers, outrageous estimates of cost savings, and proceeds to
attack everything about you, I respond with an offer to open the books and
have an independent party verify them. When someone appears prepared to
destroy public records in a manner inconsistent with the law, I politely
inform them of what the law says, why the law says it, and let them know
that my partners in the County Attorney's Office are available to provide
further assistance, and I'm more than happy to facilitate a meeting.

Here's the Achilles heel: unethical behavior is actually hard work. Lying
consistently is difficult, because the person doing it has to remember who
was lied to where. Its so much easier to be honest. Consistently modeling
ethical behavior may result in short term tactical defeats in "the game",
but in my experience, it always wins the war.

But I'm sure you and most of the members on this listserv already knew that!
-- 
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
ph: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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