EC Jurisdiction Over Independent Agencies: The Charter's the Answer
In Jacksonville, where City Ethics' president, Carla Miller, is the ethics officer, the charter revision commission unanimously voted to give the city's ethics commission jurisdiction over all the city's independent agencies, according to an article in yesterday's Daily Record.

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, the Broward County (FL; home of Ft. Lauderdale) commissioners are seeking to have an ethics code (enforced by an inspector general; it's being drafted) apply to county employees, as well. For some reason, this not only must go to referendum, but must also be approved by a majority each of state senators and representatives whose constituency touches on Broward County.

According to an article last week in the Sun-Sentinel, things started looking bad when some of these state legislators spoke their concerns at a state delegation hearing. They appear to have been most concerned about the IG's powers, especially the power to act on his or her own initiative, with independence and little oversight. The usual politicians' fear of lack of control.

Update: December 30, 2009

Two weeks ago, I welcomed the new Palm Beach County ethics codes. What I didn't realize is how much of the county's government isn't covered by the codes, including other elected officials (and their offices) such as the sheriff, the School Board, the tax collector, the county clerk, the property appraiser, and the supervisor of elections. If they do not voluntarily submit to oversight by the inspector general and the ethics commission, then the IG and EC won't have any jurisdiction over them.

One way of describing government ethics is that it involves the use and abuse of the power that goes with government officials' positions. Not all such abuses are covered by ethics laws, of course. This blog post looks at an instance of abuse that is not covered. It involves a state legislature and, especially, one state representative, in a state where local ethics is handled at the state level.

Both times Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley has had criminal charges brought against him, the counts included perjury charges for omissions on disclosure forms (2008 charges, 2009 charges). Is this the best or even an appropriate way to handle such omissions?

A new argument has been made in the legislative immunity part of the case against a Baltimore council member who is now the mayor. In a memorandum to dismiss a new indictment (attached; see below), filed on September 8, the mayor has argued, on pages 3-10, that testimony by someone who attended events which the mayor attended in her legislative capacity cannot be used against her.

This is an interesting extension of the argument that legislative immunity prevents any evidence to be introduced regarding a legislator's legislative activity. Such evidence ordinarily includes transcripts, recordings, legislators' testimony, and related letters and other documents, that is, documents that are part of legislative activity. It does not ordinarily include testimony by a non-legislator about an activity that was non-legislative in nature, but which was attended by a legislator.