Just the Facts, Please
by Dick Tindal

"Just the facts, please" is what Jack Webb said every week in his monotone voice on the old Dragnet TV series, and it is also what many councillors and staff seem to feel should apply to any policy advice offered to council. But as we discussed in the Public Administration Professionalism course last year, it isn't quite that simple.

It is true that when staff provide "just the facts," their behaviour is consistent with the public service value of neutrality. When staff instead provide political advice, they allegedly undermine their professionalism. If they try to provide advice that is sensitive to the concerns of some councillors, they risk upsetting other members of council, whose views appear to be ignored. If staff become too concerned about how council will react to advice, they are apt to start telling council what they think it wants to hear, rather than what it needs to hear.

The first problem with these arguments, of course, is that there is no such thing as completely neutral, objective policy advice -- since it inevitably reflects the background, training, values and biases of those who are offering the advice. Even to the extent that such "pure" advice can be offered, the result may not always be beneficial. Councils often react quite negatively to advice that is idealistic or unrealistic, indicating by their actions that they really do prefer advice that is practical, feasible, and tempered with local political realities. It is often said that the most effective administrators are better politicians than the councillors -- in the sense that they are highly sensitive to community undercurrents and are able to reflect these insights in the policy advice that they offer. Such an approach, however, carries its own risks, and staff who are perceived to be advancing their own agenda rather than being neutral may end up on a collision course with council.

So, what should it be? Should staff advice be "just the facts," or should it be shaped by community considerations? Those who would give the best advice possible, regardless of its political impact, have -- if they are prudent -- alternative recommendations available if council reacts negatively to the first option presented. In other words, those who are pure of heart and mind (and policy advice) should also have Plan B in their back pocket.

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