When it comes to public ethics, things aren’t always black
or white. There are plenty of actions that might not be illegal, but
nonetheless would be seen by most people as an abuse of power.
In Ohio,
such occurrences ultimately went unflagged in audit
reports. But State Auditor Dave Yost wants to change that. In July, he
implemented a new policy allowing for findings of “abuse” that are meant to
draw attention to highly questionable behavior by public officials not directly
contradicting state rules or laws.
“We would see isolated instances where people were not
breaking the law, but were treating the public purse as their own ATM,” says
Yost, who emphasizes that most public employees are well intentioned. “There
was a need for us to make a public record of it.”