Reader Input: Fair Play


Former Governor John Kitzhaber’s resignation in February prompted some soul searching in this state about ethical behavior in industry and government.

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Former Governor John Kitzhaber’s resignation in February prompted some soul searching in this state about ethical behavior in industry and government. We asked readers to rate A) the ethical behavior of business and government leaders; B) how ethical behavior has changed in the past ten years and C) the difference between ethics in business and ethics in government. Research partner CFM Strategic Communications conducted this survey of 354 readers in April.

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Reader comments:

“Government, subject to social scrutiny, appears to be operating in a more transparent fashion. Meanwhile, businesses increasingly appear to be taking advantage of economic upheaval and insecurities to justify offering less an less to the worker/s.”

“There are many people in business who have questionable ethics ranging from minor violations, such as abuse of expense reimbursement policies, to criminal violations.”

“Government is subject to much more stringent disclosure laws and the standards are higher — appropriately because the source of funds is taxpayer money.”

“One is judged in the free market, which takes time but generally prevails in the long run at smoking out unethical behavior. The other (politics) are judged in a protected and controlled market, which is incredibly inefficient at smoking out bad behavior.”

“Our government is driven by money, politics, and party lines. Ethics in business has to be defined in terms of size. Large corporations utilize their resources to influence government, which gives a small business owner (with very strong ethics) an unfavorable view with the public. In other words, a small business owner without strong business (and personal) ethics will not survive in this economy.”