Enforcement/Penalties

March 29, 2015

Spring Reading: Corruption in America II

This is the second of four blog posts on Zephyr Teachout's excellent new book, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard Univ. Press). A Culture of Gift Giving In the book's introduction, Teachout notes that, back in the 18th century, the idea of elected …

Enforcement & Complaints March 8, 2015

Defenses Against Charges of Bribery

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez is to be indicted this week for bribery and failure to report gifts. Where there is an effective government ethics program, he would be easily found to have committed administrative government ethics violations. In a criminal case, the official has the edge (and he has alr…

Enforcement & Complaints September 8, 2014

Yet Another Problem with the Criminal Enforcement of Government Ethics

In a an op-ed in the Daily Kos last Friday, Janos Marton — special counsel to New York state's recent Moreland Commission on state-level corruption — makes an excellent point about one of the problems involved in the criminal enforcement of government ethics : The Executive Order under which the Co…

Ethics Codes & Reform June 20, 2014

Why Government Ethics Programs Have Limited Subject Matter Jurisdiction

An individual who was asking me government ethics questions recently became angry when I said that codes of conduct that go beyond conflicts of interest are outside of my field. He said that those who engage in bad conduct will probably also engage in bad ethics. He referred to my exclusive focus o…

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 9, 2014

RI Legislature Schemes to Ensure Its Continuing Immunity to Ethics Jurisdiction

Rhode Island's lawmakers really know how to protect themselves. They have fought hard and long to effectively preserve their immunity from state ethics commission jurisdiction. However, with pressure on them to recommend to their constituents a constitutional amendment that would give the EC jurisd…

June 5, 2014

Quote of the Day - Admissions in Settlements

"Trials are primarily about the truth. Consent decrees are primarily about pragmatism." — Second Circuit Court of Appeals in [Link removed] SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Nos. 11-5227-cv, 11-5375-cv and 11-5242-cv (2nd Cir., June 4, 2014). These words from an important court decision yester…

Ethics Codes & Reform January 22, 2014

The Effects of Ethics Reform in Louisiana

One of the biggest problems in government ethics is determining whether ethics reforms "work." A well written article in the Advocate looked at Louisiana's ethics enforcement since the reforms instituted by Gov. Jindal became applicable in 2009. Louisiana's ethics program has jurisdiction over loca…

Enforcement & Complaints January 12, 2014

A Thought Experiment with Loyalty

I've been thinking about what I wrote in yesterday's blog post with respect to sanctioning police officers who knew about the disability scam but said nothing. The principal cause for this, besides each individual's self-interest, was a common uniformed department's conspiracy of silence, a loyalty…

Enforcement & Complaints January 6, 2014

A Good Ethics Settlement in Ohio

Here is the story of a good settlement reached in an Ohio ethics proceeding involving a council member from a very small city. According to a recent article in the Canton Rep, the council member voted on an addendum to the lease of a golf course despite the fact that he lived on adjoining property.…

June 29, 2013

Ethics Reform IV - Allen County and Columbus, IN et al

Allen County, IN According to an article in the Journal Gazette, Allen County, IN, which includes Fort Wayne, amended its ethics ordinance after a complaint was brought against a member of the county council. It turned out that it wasn't clear whether the ethics ordinance even applied to elected of…

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