Ethics issues aren't going away

I have had a number of people tell me they think the ethics 'stuff' would go away post-election. Once the eyes are on to other things, the scrutiny would fade.

I'm not sure I believe that. We just have to go to look at the exit poll results from Tuesday's mid-term elections, which showed that people were almost as upset about Washington scandals as they were about the war in Iraq.

The NYT's Web site lays it out: Voters were asked how important scandals in government were to determining how they cast their vote, a wopping 41 percent said extremely important and another 33 percent said very important. That is about 74 percent of voters. A mere 7 percent said it was not important.

Given those numbers, it seems unlikely that ethics issues are going anywhere. And with the SARA panel expected to make recommendations in this area, I'm guessing it will be an issue that will live on.

Meanwhile, here is FCW's earlier story: 5 ethical missteps and how to avoid them

Other election notes:

Election boosts trust in US voting systems [CSM, 11.10.2006]
Exit polls suggest that 88 percent of Americans felt confident in their voting device Tuesday.

Voters are caught in an e-voting quandary [Federal Computer Week, Nov. 6, 2006]
Are elections officials naive about e-voting, or are critics just pushing the wrong buttons?