Tenant 7: Refrain from Political Activity
“Refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body.”
First year MPA students will immediately recognize this tenet as the political/administration dichotomy. That is, elected representatives ideally concern themselves with policy and strategic direction, and administrators stick to implementation and management and keep politics at arms’ length.
Many tenured practitioners might wryly and rightly point out that everything has political ramifications. Even the state of neutrality could be construed as taking a position on something. That is not to say that being an active participant in the employing body’s governing process is necessary, rather being aware of political landmines and deftly stepping around them is a crucial skill. It is this strange tension between being both involved with and above political winds is one of the defining challenges of our profession.
Some current TCMA managers began their careers in elected office, and admit to the challenges this tenet presents for them. One manager in particular served on a local school board, and a candidate for state office prior to becoming a manager. “At first, I didn’t understand the importance of separation of city management from politics,” they said. “Some aspects are obvious, such as participating in the election of council members. The deeper aspects of Tenet 7 eluded me… I was used to weighing in on broad issues that impacted my community as a whole.”
Gradually, though, this manager began to realize that political entanglements can complicate problem solving. “I began to more completely understand when I took a city management job in a community that was not politically homogenous. There was a hostility directed toward me that was not about how I managed… [but instead] about who I had been politically.”
Tenet 7 is not about preventing a manager from being a part of the internal politics of an organization (as the CEO, that’s pretty much impossible), it is about refraining from the politics of governance. It does not forbid a member from voting in the election of his/her governing body. However, a manager cannot be involved in the political activities of any election for any office. The awareness of the manager in the example above shows how what would seem to be involved in the election of unrelated governing entities does and can affect your ability to be effective in the performance of your position. The tenet has been opened to allow a manager to speak to issues that are not related to your organization, but it still requires extreme caution as to the level of participation.
At our core, we as managers are problem solvers. We like to set things right and ensure the smooth and effective delivery of service to our communities. Anything which might negatively impact our ability to do solve problems and provide service ought to be closely considered. And that is what Tenet 7 is really all about.
(Article authored by Vicky Rudy, City Manager, Oak Ridge North and Matt McCombs, Assistant to the City Manager, Addison. Edited by members of the TCMA Ethics Committee.)