Our History

The Citizens Commission on Best Practices in Government (“Commission”) emerged due to concerns expressed by local citizens, public officials, and the business community following Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fraud and corruption investigations at various local public and non-profit entities. The Commission will be charged with developing a strategy, upon receipt of public input and independent counsel from experts, as deemed helpful by the Commission, to suggest the concept of best practices to promote fair dealing and ethical considerations in conducting business with government and in government conducting its business with the public at large. This includes the means and methods it uses for engaging services and extending project work to competitors seeking to address procurement opportunities presented by government.

It is anticipated that the efforts of the Commission and the resulting public work product produced will be supported by the local public entities (i.e., the County, City, School Districts, Specialized government districts, and other similarly situated government sponsored entities and institutions, (usually creatures of statutory structure or ordinance), as well as other institutional stakeholders representing specialized or organized interests of the public at large, (e.g. the Chambers of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, The Paso Del Norte Group, and other similarly situated private organizations). The nature of this support may be in the form of resolutions, in the case of the governmental bodies, or participative support as is usually evidenced by voting resolutions of the bodies governing board, as appropriate, or actual participation in Commission work, as may ultimately be developed and defined.

Such support will provide collaborative value to the work of the Commission, but, such support, though desirous, is not a pre-requisite to the legitimacy of the efforts to be undertaken by the Commission. The work of the Commission in attempting to engage the public at large to alter the course of conduct and value system that appears to be reflected in the allegations of fraud and bribery under the present FBI investigation, will stand on its own merits upon its completion and presentation. It is entirely possible that elements of discord within such organizations may arise due to investment in the present structure, and that reality cannot stall or otherwise derail the effort to shed transparency in government conduct in line with similar contracting and transactional practices on the part of private business seeking to work with government. There should not be a monopoly of preference regardless of the motivations of the contracting authorities because the work of the public should be open and awarded strictly on merit and capabilities.

The ultimate objectives of the Commission are yet to be formed. A foundational value of this effort is the need to engage the public as a whole to identify the scope and concern of the issue and, fundamentally, to identify whether the issue, as identified, is an overriding concern of the citizenry. These objectives will be formulated through the public forum process.