A signature start: Using ethics to clean up the county

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.comEducation Reporter

WILKES-BARRE – With a hint of the spirit of a school pep rally and an upbeat atmosphere intended as antidote to 16 months of corruption arrests, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered in the F. M. Kirby Center lobby Tuesday to launch what organizers hope will be a first step in burnishing Luzerne County’s badly tarnished image.

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Ethics awareness initiative info

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To learn more:

• http://twitter.com/ethicsawareness to sign the pledge online, and see who has signed it

• www.ethicsawarenessluzerne.com/ for the Ethics Awareness Initiative site

• www.misericordia.edu for the Ethics Institute (search for “ethics institute” for quick link)

• http://leadership wilkes-barre.org for Leadership Wilkes-Barre

Only a few blocks from the county courthouse where it all began with charges against two judges in January 2009, the “Ethics Awareness Initiative of Luzerne County” officially began with community leader Dr. David Kistler, the first to sign an “Ethics Pledge” that promises, among other things, to “follow the highest ethical standards in my personal life, workplace, school and community organization.”

“I hope you’ll join in signing this pledge of high ethical standards and start a new era for the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area,” Kistler said before putting pen to pledge, a joint product of Leadership Wilkes-Barre and the Ethics Institute of Northeastern Pennsylvania based at Misericordia University.

Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen Urban, County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley, County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton were among those who showed up and signed the pledge.

Kim Koehl, Leadership Wilkes-Barre director of junior and intercollegiate programs and a member of the Ethics Institute, told the crowd the pledge drive is one of four facets of the initiative devised so far. Others efforts include a resource-rich website, future community forums to spur discussion of ethics in personal and professional settings and a section in Wilkes-Barre’s Osterhout Free Library dedicated to providing age-appropriate material on ethics.

Koehl said the primary objective of the initiative is to spur rigorous discussion about ethics, raising awareness of the issue. While the initiative doesn’t call for specific actions by any local governments, that would be a “natural progression” from the movement.

The idea was prompted by a similar movement in Palm Beach, Fla., where a drive ultimately led to the formation of a permanent ethics commission in the county after a series of charges against government officials. Asked if she would like to see a similar commission here, Musto Carroll said it would be “a great idea.”

Kistler opened his remarks by framing the lengthy corruption probe as, ultimately, a good thing. “You can feel a change in the atmosphere,” he said. “Things have been swept clean, and I’m ready for a new day.”

He conceded the “culture of corruption” unmasked by the arrest of nearly 30 people so far is not new, recounting his father’s lament long ago that the courthouse suffered from “rumors of all kinds of graft and corruption.”

During the reign of King Coal in the region, he said, many people were convinced the industry barons “owned” public officials.

“We have to have a culture of high ethical standards,” Kistler said, defining that as “honesty, integrity and transparency.” He urged people to push the initiative into all aspects of the community.

Koehl told the crowd that, while the Ethics Institute and Leadership Wilkes-Barre had launched the effort, “this is your community initiative,” and she urged the public to spur discussions of ethics in their homes, workplace, organizations and even book clubs.

Area resident and attendee George Kochis suggested the forms be handed out at tonight’s meeting of the Luzerne County Government Study Commission, which is devising a proposal for a new form of county government that voters will have a chance to approve or reject. He then agreed to take the forms to the meeting himself and urged others to attend.

Study commission member Frank Conyngham signed the pledge and welcomed Kochis’ plan to distribute the pledges. He said the proposal drafted by the commission includes a section on ethics.

Urban said he would like to see all county employees and elected officials sign the pledge but noted no one could be forced to sign it. Leighton made a similar comment when asked if he would urge city employees to sign.

Urban and others praised the idea of pushing the initiative into colleges, high schools and even elementary schools. The initiative’s website includes discussion guides for adults and children.

“It needs to start in the classroom,” Urban said.

Luzerne Foundation Executive Director Charles Barber agreed. The foundation provided about $2,500 as a start-up grant for the initiative, and Barber said he believes the committee that decides where some of the grants go will be happy to add to that if the need arises in the future, particularly for education efforts.

“You need to get it out to the schools so the younger people understand this can’t be a debatable issue,” Barber said.

The event started at noon. By 5 p.m. the website registered more than 120 names as having signed the pledge, including state Reps. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, and John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, Luzerne County Coroner and former Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member John Corcoran and Luzerne County Director of Elections Leonard Piazza.

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7161.