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Ethics Corner

By Kelly Foley posted 04-23-2021 16:46

  
The Ethics Corner is designed to highlight ethical issues of interest to the political consulting community. The continued success of this column depends on our readers letting us know either of situations within their own experience, or more general questions with ethical implications. Please send your questions or comments to ethics@theaapc.org. All identifying information will be held strictly confidential. Read on for this week's dilemma and scroll to the end for our commentary.
 
*Note while many legal issues are referenced here, this should not be construed as legal advice and consultants and campaigns are urged to seek their own legal and compliance advice.
 
Situation:
 
Your candidate has been clear that they do not want to run up any post-election debt. It is a close race and you think you are slightly ahead. One more mailing should clinch it. The campaign does not have the money in the campaign account or budget, but you have a fundraiser scheduled that could pay for most of the cost. Do you commit the campaign to this spending?


AAPC Discussion:
In a word, "no." Consultants and staff have a fiduciary responsibility to the candidate. Lives have been ruined by campaign debt. There is always a temptation to do more in a campaign, but that must be tempered by ethical decisions and responsible conversations with the candidate. Consultants also may financially benefit from these decisions, so no one should lightly dismiss the serious ethical and fiduciary questions in a desire to win.
 
AAPC is committed to the ethical participation in American Democracy and the running of ethical campaigns. All members of the AAPC and our award recipients are expected to abide by the AAPC Code of Ethics. Further, the AAPC believes all political consultants and campaigns should behave in an ethical manner. 
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