The Miami Herald reported on May 18,2017 that the recently hired Opa-Locka city manager, Ivette Harrell, used City Attorney Vincent Brown to represent her in a personal lawsuit of credit card debt. Neither, exposed their representation to Miami-Dade County Court. The first ethical issue I found in this case is omission lying. According to Ferrell chapter 3 (pg.69) “Omission lying is intentionally not informing others of any differences or problems that significantly affect behavior.” I believe government employee’s behavior can be affected by Brown’s actions by violating the code of ethics of a government institution.
Brown’s attorneys said that his client had “no conflict of interest” because the lawsuit he defended on behalf of the City Manager was “unrelated” to the Opa-Locka government. However, both declined to clarify if Brown was paid for his legal services. Another ethical dilemma in the Business Ethics book is conflict of interest. “Which exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization or those of some other group” chapter 3 (pg.69). In chapter 3 (pg.70) of the Business
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One of the used values for evaluating activities that may become an ethical issue is honesty. Chapter 3 (pg.63) “to be honest is to tell the truth to the best of your knowledge without hiding anything.” In chapter 3 (pg.63) Ferrell talks about integrity and honesty as two of the foundational values for identifying ethical issues. “In an organization, integrity means uncompromising faithfulness to a set or group of values.” I believe this case is a clear case of dishonesty which is the opposite of honesty. Ferrell describes it as “lack or absence of integrity, incomplete disclosure and unwillingness to tell the truth” chapter 3