With accountability and transparency as the foundation of her administration, Governor Perdue has made clear her expectation that all state employees conduct themselves appropriately and within the state’s established ethical standards.
To ensure that all state employees and public officials affected by the State Government Ethics Act are familiar with applicable law, and to provide a reliable resource for their questions, the State Ethics Commission provides comprehensive ethics and lobbying education classes.
In the two years following enactment of the State Government Ethics Act, we provided 170 ethics and lobbying presentations to more than 14,000 people. Already this year, we have offered 57 presentations to almost 5,000 public officials and employees.
To increase efficiency and reduce costs, we have partnered with ITS to broadcast live presentations from Raleigh to community college and university sites around the state. This effort has saved travel costs not only for the Commission, but also for the state agencies that might have otherwise had to reimburse for travel to Raleigh to attend training.
Presentations are designed to help public officials and employees who are subject to the ethics laws understand their financial disclosure obligations and identify and avoid conflicts of interest, as well as avoid accepting prohibited gifts.
We will continue to seek ways to ensure the cost-effective use of state funds while making certain that the Commission’s core education mission continues to be met. We also are expanding our educational role in ways that will complement the ethics education presentations, including issuing newsletters, developing ethics and lobbying FAQs, and revising our website.