I've been remiss at covering the complex battles that have gone on in
and around the San Francisco ethics commission. I did, however, start a piece in
August 2009, which I have appended to this one, with an update.
It's been almost two years since the New
York Times broke the story on the abuses of New York City council
earmarks slush fund, which totaled about $50 million a year. This week, the
council member featured in the Times article was expelled from the
state senate for a violent act committed against his female companion,
according to...
This blog post is about Chicago, and things are more complicated in
Chicago than in other American municipalities. So please read slowly
and carefully.
A NC Local
Government Blog post yesterday made me aware that there have
recently been some very public conflict of interest issues involving
North Carolina's alcoholic beverage control (ABC) system, the state
liquor sales program, which allows
each city and county to have a local alcoholic beverage control board
and employees (163 boards in all).
Can the government ethics enforcement community learn anything from a
successful experiment in the crime enforcement field? With tongue only
partly in cheek, I will try to show ways in which the government ethics
enforcement community could learn a thing or two.
Political activity by local government employees can be a sign of misuse of office. And when election problems arise, they generally involve local
government employees, as has happened in Essex County (NJ; home of
Newark), according to an
article in Friday's Star-Ledger.
The principal problem with political activity involves patronage, the...