Board of ethics

In an opinion dated April 30, the Riverhead Board of Ethics said it found no evidence that Riverhead planning and building administrator Jefferson Murphree violated either the towns ethics code or his employment contract by working as a consultant for a developer of a site on the traffic circle in Riverside.

Riverhead Town's ethics code, first adopted in 2004, has many gaping holes that allow questionable conduct to continue unabated, as we've seen repeatedly over the years. It's time to fix it.

Anyone holding public office, or who seeks to, ought to reflect on Rushworth Kidder's simple explanation of ethics as the "science of the ideal human character as well as the science of moral duty."

The town board on Tuesday will appoint Bay Shore attorney David Besso of the firm Long Tuminello LLP to advise the ethics board in the pending complaint against Councilwoman Jodi Giglio.