Conflicts of interest arise when someone’s personal interests – financial, family, friendships or other social relationships – have the potential to clash with their professional responsibilities and compromise their decision-making abilities and actions.
Real or perceived, they can result in corruption, undermine the role of and discredit the person, but most harmfully lead to erosion of the public trust. Conflicts of interest, especially personal ones, are not always easy to identify, though frequently legal advice can help.
People in positions of power must divulge and divest themselves of them.
According to a government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, President-elect Donald Trump racked up 3,400 conflicts of interest during his first term, from appointing family members to government positions to hosting foreign and other officials at his properties.
Citizens were left to question whether the decisions and policies his administration implemented were in the best interests of the country or whether they personally enriched him, his family members and people spending money at his properties. We can expect more of this in his second term.
Closer to home, Coloradan Chris Wright, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of the Department of Energy, amassed a fortune in the oil and gas industry. Wright’s biggest potential conflict of interest is his role as founder, CEO and board chairman of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based hydraulic fracturing business. The shares he owns in that company are worth more than $40 million.
When Trump announced his nomination, Wright filed a document with the SEC confirming he would step down as CEO and from the board. As federal ethics rules require, within the first few months of a confirmation, Cabinet secretary nominees normally divest from any holdings that could affect or be affected by their agency leadership.
Did former Silverton Mayor and developer Shane Furhman have conflicts of interest during his tenure? Hard to know.
He initiated the Compass Project community master planning process (Herald, Dec. 1) that benefited the town, “mending fences,” as reported in The New York Times just one year ago. As Furhman said (Herald, Dec. 4), his planning and development background could be, and apparently was, helpful in the historically divided town.
He was criticized for a 2016 prospectus, The Selwyn, that solicited real estate investments locals feared would turn Silverton into a Telluride or Aspen, something most residents staunchly oppose and would put pressure on affordable housing efforts.
By his term’s end, Fuhrman had purchased two commercial properties, and a third key parcel at the entrance to the town that was rezoned to allow – the town does not require – multifamily development with $360,000 lots for sale.
Before he ran for mayor, Furhman was elected to the school board. Not having children himself, his motives were questioned when a prime piece of real estate the board owned was put up for sale. He did not purchase it, but it appeared to some community members that he was prospecting.
Board service can help newcomers quickly learn about a community. When Aaron and Jenny Brill came to Silverton to start Silverton Mountain, a few groups they split their time among included the Planning Commission, Mountain Studies Institute and Silverton Snowmobile Club, a local political force.
Was Fuhrman’s and the Brills’ activity calculated to amass knowledge, relationships and influence or because they truly believed in community service? Again, hard to know.
What might be learned from Silverton’s experience? Given his community involvement, and aspirations to hold public office, Fuhrman should have made The Selwyn prospectus very public early on. Transparency is paramount and can help avoid conflicts of interest, real and perceived.
