Posts Tagged: Eric

How Wall Street Millionaires Really Think About Ethics

As a retired federal Contracting Officer (CO), professor and ethics trainer/consultant I was sort of “taken aback” yesterday when playing a round of golf down here in Florida where I live in “the Villages” Florida. I was paired up with two seemingly wealthy gents from a place called “Safe Harbor” in Florida. They seemed (appearancesRead… Read more »

Calling the Presidential Election: Reforms to Polling Processes

By Eric Rabe, Fels Sr. Advisor By 11:16 election night, President Obama called it. He happily tweeted “Four more years” and sent along a celebratory photo. Yet it was another two hours before Mitt Romney conceded and the end-of-the-campaign speeches were finally over. Romney’s polls were showing Ohio and Florida, two critical states, still couldRead… Read more »

Drawing the Ethical Line in Government

By Eric Rabe, Fels Senior Advisor Recently, I wrote that bloggers who practice journalism cannot accept favors from those they cover. To do so destroys the writer’s credibility. When not disclosed is dishonest to readers. What about those who work in government? Of course, most towns, states and agencies draw clear ethics guidelines, and manyRead… Read more »

Value for the Money: What governments need to tell the tax-paying public

Most of us paid our taxes this week, and didn’t grumble too much. But taxpayers may not have had a great sense of satisfaction about it either. By Eric Rabe, Fels Senior Advisor A Pew study last year found that most Americans are “frustrated” with the federal government — a number that has been aboveRead… Read more »

Social Media Privacy is a Hot Topic

By Eric Rabe, Fels Senior Advisor In an announcement on Friday, Facebook said it is taking steps to prevent employers from getting access to the FB accounts of employees. It’s the right call. The surprising thing is that it was even a question. What is the implication for governments and agencies? Of course, Facebook isRead… Read more »

Managing Complexity

The deficit showdown reflects a challenge of modern times: how can government – and society – deal with increased complexity? A new book may point the way. Noted government observer Donald Kettl, wrote several years ago that the government of the future needs to develop three things to deal with increased complexity: knowledge-driven organizations, theRead… Read more »

VA Must Restructure To Effectively Process Veterans Claims

Gregg Zoroya in an article which ran in the USA Today Newspaper on April 6, 2011 wrote about the VA backlog of claims increasing tremendously from 200,000 to a whopping 450,000 from 2009. He said in the article, that VA had expected an increase in claims and hired an additional 3000 employees, which brought theRead… Read more »