City Council candidate Jesse Cornett has pledged to bring a new code of ethics to Portland on his website this morning:

Real Ethics for the City of Portland

Portland’s Code of Ethics should be real and enforceable. In the unfortunate chain of events last week where a City Commissioner likely violated two sections, a huge loophole in the Code of Ethics has been identified: is only enforceable when it can be enforced by another body, meaning the state or federal government. Ethics in the City of Portland are as the City Attorney opined “aspirational,” and as a result refused to investigate whether it had been violated. No entity outside of Portland has the legal authority to investigate City Code. So our Ethics Code is advisory only.

Portland can do better.

When I am elected to City Council, during my first week in office, I will introduce an ordinance specifically repealing this advisory language and require the City Auditor enforce these rules in the future and levy fines when they are broken.

That’s the least Portlanders deserve.