4. Integrity is complying with the rules
Integrity means consistency between rules and behavior. Strictly disciplined compliance with the rules shows that SPs respect them and those served by them. SPs who ponder whether to comply are already failing to act with integrity. Other important considerations for compliance include the fact that (1) the position is an honor and a privilege; (2) integrity only counts when no one is watching; (3) if SPs fail to comply where rules exist, this offers even less confidence in their behavior where rules are absent; and (4) non-compliance is an indication that SPs fail to take themselves seriously.
Integrity is not limited to knowing the letter and spirit of the law: it is also necessary to act accordingly. Besides unity, as we saw in chapter 2, integrity also means consistency. Rules and behavior show integrity when they are in agreement, when rules are converted to behavior, and when rules and behavior are consistent. It would be inconsistent to know the rules but fail to apply them, or to do so unevenly. Behavior is an affirmation of the rules, like a signature. For SPs who understand this, it is a question of applying the rules and continuing to do so, but for many this is easier said than done.
Many SPs fall because they break a rule, losing their positions because they have no valid excuse for transgression. They knew the rule, but thought they could make an exception, it really applied to others, they could bypass it in favor of greater interests, or the consequences of transgression would not be so bad.
A minister was aggressively criticized when it emerged that he had privately awarded the task of organizing an event to friends in his party, as the rules stated that an open tender should have taken place. Another minister was permitted to stay on when it emerged that he had accepted a job on the side without asking permission from the prime minister, but was later dismissed when it was discovered that he had entered into an extramarital affair
with his personal aide and failed to report this, which was in conflict with the rules of his department. Similarly, a senator was dismissed for violating the rules by privately accepting gifts from a company in exchange for supporting a plan to the company’s advantage, and another was fired for submitting inflated expenses for years.25 A councilor was also fired for passing on information from a mayor’s nominating committee to one of the candidates, which was against the rules in that country, and a former president, Carlos Menem of Argentina, received a prison sentence for illegal weapons trading.26
Compliance with the rules of a position is often a question of simply getting on with it without hesitation. SPs who continually ponder whether to comply are already failing to act with integrity. They allow themselves to be guided by calculating, opportunistic considerations and give no indication of conformity. This is similar to continually considering embarking on an extramarital affair: it is no way to express true, unconditional love for one’s current partner. Such calculating SPs also risk miscalculating and thereby breaking a rule without a convincing excuse. Even if there are good reasons for not complying with a particular rule, generally it is not worth treading thin ice by making exceptions.
Complying with the rules is sometimes viewed negatively by SPs as conformist, and breaking the rules may be viewed positively as a conscious choice.This view, however, is erroneous. Complying with the rules does not imply indiscriminate obedience. Proper compliance is a conscious choice to respect the rules and to honor one’s position. By strictly complying with rules in a disciplined way SPs show that they consider them important, along with that which the rules serve.
Nevertheless SPs who find themselves in a situation in which they are considering breaking a rule would do well to realize how others will judge their transgression. There are at least four arguments that others can use which weigh in favor of compliance.
Firstly, it is a privilege to be able to comply with the rules. In other times, places, and circumstances, people might well have wanted to do so, but could not or were not permitted to due to circumstances such as dictatorship, anarchy, or war. Non-compliance denies this honor and privilege. Furthermore it denies those who have spent or laid down their lives creating and protecting the constitutional state, the freedom to make rules, and the freedom resulting from compliance with the rules.
Secondly, integrity is complying with the rules when others are not looking. Only in cases where