Ethics and economic development Saturday, March 27, 2004 Newly elected Governor Kathleen Blanco is heading in the right direction in trying to clean up the political culture of Louisiana. She has introduced legislation to establish tighter ethical standards within state government, and she is promoting the change as necessary for economic development. In one of the understatements of the year, an aide to the governor commented, "Louisiana's reputation is, there's a perception that government doesn't operate as openly or as honestly as it should." Read more It will take more than a few modest bills to clean up this mess. In Louisiana, economic development and corruption are too often close cousins. The recent article I wrote on the Shreveport convention center fiasco illustrates the point. Governor Blanco needs to keep the pressure on. More important, the business community should make it a priority to join the movement to clean things up. Too few politicians in the state share Governor Blanco's vision of new way of doing business. And too often the mainstream media is asleep, intimidated...or too lazy to care. Here's a good example. In the audit of the Shreveport convention center, the state auditor explained that "consultants" had been paid $300 per hour to arrange meetings, the city had boosted the architect's by 25% without documentation, and the consultants were not required to document their time. The report outlines other widespreaad deficiencies. The Shreveport Times ignored these facts and instead used this headline in their article: "Audit cites concerns; reveals no impropriety". The real tragedy is that many fine, dedicated civic leaders in the state are effectively undercut by corrupt leaders in both the public and private sectors. Corruption undercuts economic development. To learn more, read this analysis of a recent report from Transparency International. Go posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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