With lobbying scandals in Washington, D.C., and business corruption in Houston, is it time for an institute on ethics in St. Louis?

State Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, thinks so.

Gross, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, included an additional $200,000 in the state budget during this legislative session to boost funding for the University of Missouri system. The money is to fund a newly created institute on ethics to be housed on the St. Louis campus.

"The thought here is to establish an ethics institute that, in my words, would be the focus point and ongoing clearinghouse for academic and applied research in all aspects of ethics," Gross said. "My natural interest is from the public-policy side of things, but that would be just one facet of their work."

Judging from recent scandal, there appears to be plenty of need for a renewed emphasis on ethics. One California congressman, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, has admitted taking bribes, and a half-dozen other federal lawmakers are under scrutiny for connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were recently found guilty of one of the biggest business frauds in history.

And you don’t have to look that far to find questionable practices. The Missouri Ethics Commission found late last month that state House Speaker Rod Jetton’s political consultant work for state Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, raised serious questions. Jetton, a Republican from Marble Hill, is the registered agent for a firm that Crowell has paid $33,000.

Gross said a lot of things were happening, and "an ethics institute sounded right." He discussed the idea with St. Louis Chancellor Tom George, who suggested expanding it beyond public policy to include medical and business ethics.

George said he was brainstorming with some faculty members on how the institute should be structured. He said the money initially would be used to hire a director and get secretarial help.

Marvin Berkowitz, the head of the Center for Character and Citizenship at UMSL, is one of those on the committee drafting initial plans for the institute. Berkowitz set up a center for ethics studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Berkowitz said one approach would be to get grants to train all faculty members on ethical issues so that ethics could be incorporated into all disciplines taught on the campus.

"Ethical training in most professions is pretty limited," Berkowitz said. "That would be a role for the center no matter what discipline a student is entering. Everyone wants their boss, their co-worker and their neighbor to be more ethical. It adds to the general quality of life."

Asked what he believed was causing the erosion of ethical behavior, Berkowitz said capitalism was choking out all other forms of acceptable conduct. "I think it’s become the value system of society," Berkowitz said. "It’s every man and woman for himself."

Gross said he would leave it up to UMSL officials to name the institute. He said he’s heard several suggestions, including the name of former U.S. Attorney General and former Gov. John Ashcroft.

"If the university decides to name it, that’s their call," Gross said. "I have heard several suggestions, including that one, but I left that to the university."