City Ethics’ very own Carla Miller (also the Jacksonville Ethics Officer) is in the news this week with an important municipal ethics dispute. At least one Jacksonville lobbyist refuses to disclose the names of the clients he represents or the issues about which he is lobbying for each client, pursuant to a new ordinance intended to follow state requirements.
For years, Jacksonville lobbyists could list their clients as “various.” Attorney-lobbyist Paul Harden argues that disclosing the names of his clients would violate attorney-client confidentiality rules. At the same time, he said, “It’s pretty clear who I represent.”
04/16/2008
by David Chapman
Staff Writer
From: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=49846
As of Tuesday, discussions between the City Ethics Commission and Office of General Counsel were ongoing about how to handle the issue of 10 area lobbyists not in compliance with new code requirements regarding disclosure of clients.
This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041208/met_267642192.shtml.
The Florida Times-Union
April 12, 2008
By BETH KORMANIK,
The Times-Union
The city's Ethics Commission believes the rules are clear: Lobbyists must list the individual clients and issues that they represent.
Date posted: 2008-11-04
From: http://www.folioweekly.com/folioblog/?p=723
The Jacksonville Daily Record today published a story covering the first ethics training since the new code revisions were ratified by Council on Tuesday last week.
"Miller instructed the Council staff not to get too bogged down in the technicalities of the law, but to adopt an overall ethical mind set to help guide their decision-making."
From: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=48985
In an article published in the Jacksonville Daily Record on Thursday, Carla Miller revealed her plans as the City's new Ethics Officer:
'In a very large city like Jacksonville you can't say that every single person who comes into government will be an ethical and honest person, so it comes down to the control systems. I teach with Michael Josephson in 'Character Counts' and he calls it 'The Law of Big Numbers'. In every large group there are bound to be some crooks. You have to build in front-end controls and cross-checks.'
Miller was extensively quoted about her use of the fable of the Ethics Elephant and the complete City Ethics Ethics Elephant powerpoint slide is published [in PDF format] on the Daily Record website.
See http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=48372 for the complete story by Max Marbut. (Site may require a login for access.)
From: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=48985
Article published on: September 6, 2007
by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Having an effective ethics program in any environment is all about enhancing communication.
That’s how Carla Miller, the City’s recently-appointed ethics officer, described her task at hand.
This is the complete text of Mayor John Peyton's speech to the
Jacksonville City Council in which he appoints City Ethics' Carla
Miller as Ethics Officer.
August 28, 2007
These are demanding and difficult times for Jacksonville, a city with a proud tradition of fiscal responsibility.
Yesterday in a dramatic speech to the City's Council, Mayor Peyton announced a series of sweeping ethics reforms, foremost of which was his appointment of Carla Miller as the City's Ethics Officer - in his words: "The establishment of a high-level, in-house ethics officer for the city of Jacksonville. I have asked Carla Miller to take on this important responsibility. She is a former federal prosecutor, former chair of the Jacksonville Ethics Commission and internationally recognized expert on government ethics who has served our city well over the past few years as a volunteer.
The complete text of his speech can be found here:
She has been an invaluable resource to municipalities throughout the nation and governments throughout the world in this regard."
http://www.cityethics.org/jax/peyton-28-August-2007
