Wally Siewert, director of the Center for Ethics in Public Life at UMSL, talks with KMOV reporter Matt Sczesny about a recent solicitation letter written by a St. Louis alderman.
A letter from St. Louis Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. that solicited for money to help fund his daughter’s college education has led to media coverage by multiple St. Louis-area news outlets. KMOV (Channel 4) reported that the letter came close to blurring the line between Bosley’s public and private life, but was not illegal. The news station asked Wally Siewert, director of the Center for Ethics in Public Life at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, to weigh in.
“It’s definitely an ethical grey area because as a public servant he’s required to keep the public interests that he represents as far away as possible from his private interests. And this brings the two pretty close together,” Siewert told KMOV.
Visit the KMOV website to view the full news story.
Siewert also recently wrote a trio of ethics commentaries for the St. Louis Beacon including:
* Bosley right to put child first – but not to ask others to pay
* Is political ethics an oxymoron?
* Ethics survey: Good news and bad
