"Truth, Lies, Politics, and the Press: Campaign Ethics in a New Age?"

In what some have called the meanest campaign season in memory, the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University will offer suggestions for evaluating campaign rhetoric and "voting for ethics" at "Truth, Lies, Politics, and the Press," an informal discussion with San Jose Mercury News Editor and Senior Vice President David Yarnold and Center Senior Fellow in Government Ethics Judy Nadler. The presentation will be held in the Arts and Sciences Building on the university campus Thursday, Oct. 7 from noon-1. The free event is co-sponsored by the Santa Clara County Cities Association.

Yarnold said, "The news media have an obligation to scrutinize the claims that campaigns make and to hold candidates to high ethical standards." He will discuss the role of journalists in helping voters evaluate office seekers.

Nadler, the former mayor of the city of Santa Clara, will present some of the "unavoidable ethical dilemmas facing candidates." Nadler has developed the program "Ethics and the Public's Business," a workshop for newly elected local officials. She was a panelist on "Ethics in Today's City Government" at the 2004 US Conference of Mayors annual meeting and has addressed government ethics for groups from the League of California Cities to the National Fire Academy. Nadler writes a blog on government ethics at ethics.typepad.com.

Please confirm your attendance by calling (408) 554-7892 or by email, jnadler@scu.edu