Government doesn't always need legislative hearings or new laws to make sure its employees behave ethically. Sometimes, all it takes is for the boss to make a phone call.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles director Fred Dickinson was unfortunately suffering under the illusion that no conflict was created by the fact that his wife was paid to lobby for six businesses with agency contracts. One of those, National Safety Commission Inc., was picked to print the official state driver's handbook, allowing it to be the sole advertiser for its own traffic school.
Gov. Jeb Bush, upon hearing of the arrangement, picked up the phone. "I'm not okay with the perception of a spouse of an agency head lobbying the department her husband runs," he said later. "I just think it's inappropriate."
Dickinson, who has run the agency since 1992, got the message. His wife immediately dropped her lobbying contracts with the company. Bush, for his part, made the right call.
