I confess that my first reaction to being asked to talk about "ethics and integrity in public service" was question whether this was a high priority topic in March 2003. I have moved back and forth between the public and private sectors over a long career and have thought about ethical issues in both contexts. At the moment, it seemed to me that the ethical problems that most urgently needed attention were in the private sector. The spectacular corporate scandals of the turn of the 21st century exposed the seamy side of capitalism and yielded shameful examples of greed, abuse of stockholder and employee trust, bending accounting rules, outright lying, and dereliction of duty by executives and corporate boards. In this context APSA's request for a sermon on the ethical challenges facing public servants seemed almost trivial. It suggested public servants pleading, "Don't forget us! We may not get stock options or seven figure bonuses, but, hey, we have ethical problems, too!"

On reflection, however, I realized that my initial reaction stemmed from construing the question of ethics in public service too narrowly. I was thinking only about officials abusing their power to enrich themselves monetarily or steer government business to their relatives and cronies. This kind of ethical problem is endemic in many countries, where petty bribery is an accepted way of paying public functionaries, and big time corruption flourishes at the highest levels. But I don't think this is our kind of problem. In the United States, public servants on the take are mercifully rare and usually apprehended by legions of inspectors general and other watch dogs of the ethics rules. Indeed, at the federal level, American concern to prevent even the appearance of financial conflict of interest has arguably been excessive. It has led to disclosure and divestiture rules so complex and downright silly that they deter some talented people from taking public service positions. To be sure, the occasional congressman or political appointee breaks the rules and ends up resigning under a cloud or even being indicted. But these lapses do not constitute a problem worthy of a lecture with Eliot Richardson's name on it.