A New Local Government Blog That Covers Ethics Issues

I'd like to call your attention to a new local government law blog that, among other issues, covers government ethics. It's called Coates' Canons: NC Local Government Law Blog, and it's a joint effort of  local government law faculty members at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Albert Coates, after whom the blog is named, was the founder of the university's Institute of Government. Click here to read about the purpose of the blog.

Founded on July 30, the Ethics & Conflicts category contains eleven blog posts directly relevant to local government ethics. The latest one considers the situation of a local government attorney whose relative, close friend, or associate is elected to government. "It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine a scenario in which the attorney may be (improperly) more concerned with the interests of the individual rather than those of the organization. ... If the county attorney is married to a commissioner, how effective will that attorney be in representing the county’s interests if the commissioner-spouse is later accused of misconduct? How will the attorney respond if the commissioner-spouse insists that the attorney not reveal to the rest of the board the substance of 'confidential' conversations with the attorney about county business?"

The blog post looks at how such a situation should be dealt with according to the state's Rules of Professional Conduct. But what about a local government's ethics code, now that North Carolina local governments will start having such things? (see my blog post on the pitiful new state requirement, and Coates' Canons' post)

There is a fascinating blog post from November on the issue of who, or what body, is authorized to waive attorney-client privilege on behalf of a mayor, manager, or council member.

Before I look at further blog posts, I'd like to point out a related store of information, the UNC School of Government's NC Local Government Document Warehouse. It's not of much use for ethics yet, but it's a great resource for other things, such as the subject of the next blog posts I'll be looking at.

Do you know about the Grants Management Common Rule? If your local government is taking money from the federal government, you'd better know about it. In two blog posts, Eileen R. Youens discusses its requirements.The first focuses on bid protest procedures (the Rule does not provide much in the way of guidelines). The second blog post focuses on codes of conduct for the award and administration of contracts. The required code of conduct even includes disciplinary actions. In many cases, some of the provisions appear in local or state law, but these must be supplemented.

There's another fascinating blog post, from October, on the common law concept of amotion (not a typo). It allows for the removal of a corporate officer for cause. It is almost never applied in a local government situation, but it could form the basis for an ethics code provision allowing removal of an official. Who knew?

Also see a good blog post on opposing counsel's right to communicate with local government officials even after told that all communications must go through local government counsel, and the limits and rules relating to such communication.

And there's another good blog post about the ethics ramifications of the purchase of surplus property from a local government by a local government employee.

The NC blog is a great addition to the field. You can either RSS the blog or ask that new blog posts be e-mailed to you.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

---