Blogs

It's worth a look at Philadelphia columnist Dave Davies' last column after twenty-five years on the job. It's something rarely seen in the local government ethics world: a hymn of praise to a local ethics commission, which he calls "a watchdog that isn't afraid to bite."

He ends his column on Philadelphia's...

New York City's Conflicts of Interest Board is one of the premier ethics commissions in the U.S. One would assume that its rules and procedures would provide an example, as well as guidance, for the rest of the state. So I would like to look at ethics programs in the other largest (although not large) cities in the state, in order by population.

Worth taking a look at is the work of California Watch in disclosing the use of county party committees to launder campaign contributions far over the legal limits.

The nonpartisan good government organization presents the data in three different forms:

If citizens could once in their lives be a juror in a government ethics trial, we would have incredible ethics laws. This is the conclusion one comes to after reading, in an Albany Times-Union article, the comments of jurors in the trial of former NY senate majority leader Joseph Bruno for misuse of office and failure to disclose...

One of the most common mistakes government officials make is to see recusal as involving only a decision whether or not to vote on a matter where they have a possible conflict of interest. A Phoenix council member and a city attorney appear to have made this mistake.

Who expects a wonderful local government ethics surprise to come from New Jersey? Check out the Department of State's Pay-to-Play Ordinances page, which provides links, county by county, of municipal ordinances placing a limited contribution ban on those entering into municipal contracts.

The ordinances are based on a model...