I don’t believe in ethics. Being ethical is too much work according to the seminar I went to — I’m too lazy for ‘ethics’. I have 3 simple rules instead.
1. Don’t do anything that you wouldn’t do on the steps in front of City Hall.
2. Don’t do or say anything you wouldn’t want published in the Globe and Mail.
3. Don’t do anything illegal because it’s too inconvenient to cover your tracks.
If you’re the type of person who would clout the Mayor on the nose at a City Hall news conference, then my rules (and all the ethics seminars in the the world) won’t help you.
I suspect your readers will just be confused by this. You probably need to clarify what you mean by “ethics,” since I’m guessing you don’t mean the same thing that I mean when I use that word.