CONCLUSION

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

--Mahatma Gandhi

     The time is always right to do what is right.

--Martin Luther King

TEN TAKE AWAYS FROM THIS GUIDE

1. Ethical campaigns stay true to their values, take the high road, and don’t engage in dirty tricks.
2. Ethical candidates avoid being pulled into the mud.
3. Ethical campaign communications are those that are truthful, relevant, fair, and substantive.
4. Ethical campaign promises are those that are transparent, consistent, and capable of being performed.
5. Ethical candidates manage donor expectations regarding access and influence.
6. Ethical candidates never mix government with politics.
7. Ethical campaign leaders set the tone at the top of the top of the campaign organization.
8. Ethical campaigns have a campaign code of conduct that applies to all involved in the campaign.
9. Ethical campaign organizations have a designated person tasked with ensuring that all campaign conduct and communications comply with the campaign’s values.
10. Ethical campaigns comply with all campaign rules and regulations in their jurisdiction.

Ethical conduct in political campaigns, as in other human endeavors, requires information, preparation, and personal reflection. With the overarching goal of strengthening democracy, ethical candidates engage in campaign practices that will inform the electorate, restore trust in government, and fulfill ethical duties owed to the people that the candidate seeks to represent. Establishing early on a set of principles and ethical guidelines for your campaign will help inform your decision making when confronted with the ethical choices all candidates face in the course of a political race.

Never forget that as a political candidate you are in essence applying for a job, and the voters are your future employers. The job that you seek is a position of trust--your future constituents are going to trust you to be a good steward of public funds, trust you to always act on their behalf, and trust you to always act in the public’s best interest, not your own. When you enter public service, you will assume fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and fairness as a result of the trust placed in you by the voters. In order to get the job, your campaign should demonstrate that you understand these duties and that you are committed to working for the common good. Political campaigns are often the first time, and sometimes the only way, the public learns about would-be elected officials. If you campaign with integrity, you will send a clear signal as to how you will govern.

To borrow from John Adams, imagine a political world where “greatness not meanness” is the norm, where people trust their elected officials, and where public service is once again considered a noble calling.  By dedicating yourself to running an ethical campaign, you have taken the first step in helping make that vision a reality.