PROFILE November 7, 1988 Issue

Lessons from public service

with contributions from Max Denney

In recent years the public has learned some hard lessons about safeguarding the quality of public service. Discussions of ethical guidelines for government and efforts to keep closer watch over the work of elected officials are vital. But perhaps there are other lessons to be learned from the many public servants who carry out their work with high standards. For example, Max Denney, who worked in and around government on the local as well as the national level for over twenty years, says humility is one lesson he learned over and over again.

What are some of the positions you've held?

I have been an administrative assistant to a governor, a county and a city attorney, a police judge, a member of the school board. I've been on the city council. And I have been executive vice-president and legal counsel to several trade associations. I was a trial attorney in the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. I retired from the law practice, and since 1982 I have been a Christian Science practitioner.

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