ODL in Wunderland
Our Dear Leader (ODL)
Many will know that IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger, Our Dear Leader, a.k.a. ODL, engaged in a conflict of interest surrounding his cozy real estate deals with Jim Franzoni of S.F.& C. Insurance, who heads up the Nationwide and Liberty Mutual dealings with the IAFF.
The accepted definition of conflict of interest is “a situation that has the potential to undermine the impartiality of a person because of the possibility of a clash between the person’s self-interest and professional interest.”
If the potential exists, a conflict has occurred.
Separate and apart from the conflict is whether or not impropriety is also an issue.
Organizations concerned with ethics strive to avoid even the appearance of conflicts by prohibiting private transactions between parties with professional interests.
The IAFF executive board recently met in Florida in part to re-tool the ethics policy.
Instead of strengthening it to ensure honesty and openness, they have re-written the policy to allow ODL to do as he pleases while making disclosure a joke.
The other ODL would be proud of our ODL.
The Other ODL
The World According to ODL
In ODL’s world, the truth, when inconvenient, is simply changed to suit him.
The new policy says:
“The mere holding of a personal financial interest in a vendor or other entity with which the IAFF transacts does not necessarily constitute a conflict of interest. To address a potential conflict of interest that may be contrary to this code, an IAFF officer should promptly disclose the matter, in writing, to the IAFF executive board or to an appropriate committee of the executive board.”
This is, of course, double-speak as all conflicts of interest inherently include “potential.”
In fact, the potential is the conflict.
And note that in the rules re-write a conflict “should” be disclosed rather than shall.
As usual, ODL, the hog at the trough, wants to eat his cake and have it too.
Fox Guards Hen House
Not only has ODL and his merry henchmen created a new definition for conflict of interest to suit their needs, they intend to hide future conflicts from view:
“All allegations [of conflict of interest] and review shall be kept confidential unless and until the ad hoc ethical practices committee finds reasonable cause to bring the matter to the attention of the IAFF executive board. The committee shall adopt reasonable measures to ensure that confidentiality is maintained, including enforceable sanctions for breach of confidentiality.”
It may be news to ODL and the IAFF executive board but most conflicts of interest happen confidentially and “under the radar.”
The way to avoid them is to openly disclose all activities, especially those that may represent a conflict threat or potential.
The board’s practice and approach will be to hide behind an entirely phony claim of confidentiality using the threat of “enforceable sanctions” for a supposed “breach.”
Absolute Power
ODL now wields absolute power over the IAFF executive board who are collectively nothing more than cowering eunuchs bought off with a pay raise, fancy dinners and hotel suites.
The ethical coup-de-grace is ODL’s cynical re-write of the ethics policy and the board’s weak-kneed endorsement of it.
The IAFF continues to regress where honesty and ethics are the issue.
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- See more at: http://www.turnoutblog.com/2015/02/18/iaff-ethics-and-the-iaff-fc-a-member-writes/#sthash.xDZ2aqmP.dpuf