Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play February 27, 2014

Local Government Lobbyists, Prohibitions on Use of Funds, and Campaign Contributions

Recently, the hiring of lobbyists to represent cities before state and federal governments and agencies has become controversial. Some people think this is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds. I don't agree. However, the hiring of external lobbyists (as opposed to government officials who do the lobbying themselves) does raise some government ethics issues, because it adds to the mix highly politicized contractors.

Local Government Practice May 29, 2008

Local Government Officials' Obligations with Respect to Federal Laws

The land deals of Congressman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar, CA) could provide fodder for numerous blog entries on various topics. I wrote about him and ethics recidivism, to show how important it is to deal with a local politician's unethical actions so that they don't turn into much bigger ones as he rises through the ranks.

Now I'd like to look at a way in which municipal officials, feeling they're helping out, enable unethical conduct.

Conflicts of Interest January 10, 2010

Local Government Political Activity and Misuse of Office

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.

Local Government Practice July 16, 2007

Local Government Post-Mortems

Whenever someone dies in a village in Bangladesh, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, a health charity, holds a public post-mortem, according to an article in the July 7, 2007 issue of the Economist.

June 27, 2010

Local Government Regulation of Political Robocalls

Image by Joe Wu

Following up on the previous blog post, here is the first of two examples of local government ethics matters involving anonymity outside of an internet context.

Ethics Codes & Reform June 17, 2010

Local Government Sunshine Reform

Most local governments leave open meeting and public records matters to the state. But often the slowness and expense of the state enforcement process, as well as weaknesses in state law (e.g., too short a period for noticing agendas, vague guidelines on filling FOI requests), can mean that open meeting and public records laws are insufficiently effective or are ignored.

March 24, 2010

Local Government Website Transparency Awards

It's been four days since Sunshine Week ended, but it's not too late to point out Sunshine Review's first Sunny Awards, given to state and local governments whose websites meet the organization's transparency guidelines, which consider website information on budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records,

August 13, 2008

Local Governments and Guantanamo Bay

Tomorrow, I am going to Guantanamo Bay. To get there, I have to drive through Guantanamo Bay.

How could that be? For the same reason that you might be sitting in Guantanamo Bay as you read this: because innocent people are being held, and mistreated, in long-term detention all over the United States, including in local government facilities (see map).

Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.

Local Government Practice September 1, 2008

Local Governments' Fiduciary Duties to Bondholders

Local governments may only be accountable to their citizens, but they also have fiduciary duties to those who invest in their bonds.

July 29, 2013

Local IG Makes Charges About Campaign Treasurer Acting As Auditor

On Friday, New Orleans' Inspector General, who works for the city's ethics board, sent off two letters relating to the auditor for the Orleans Parish sheriff's office.

February 27, 2011

Local Legislative Immunity Bill in Virginia Fails

Here's a curiosity relating to local official legislative immunity. According to an article in statehousenewsonline.com on Friday, Virginia state senator Chap Peterson sponsored a bill to give local officials in Virginia legislative immunity. The bill would have added the following provision to the state code, using the U.S.

September 23, 2010

Local Legislators Investigate an Ethics Commission in Suffolk County

When I wrote about the disclosure controversy in Suffolk County back in July, I didn't realize that another interesting ethics issue was going on there. In late June, the county legislature had instituted an investigation of the county ethics commission. One reason for this investigation appears to be the commission's decision to allow the county executive to file only a state disclosure form, even though, it turned out, this decision was legally correct.

April 11, 2011

Local Official Involvement in Shadow Banking

An interesting question arises from a big investigative article in yesterday's Miami Herald: is it unethical for a mayor and his wife to be part of a shadow banking network in their city?

Local Government Practice July 8, 2010

Local Officials Dealing with the Unethical Conduct of Other Local Officials

A situation in the city of Alameda, CA once again points out that government officials dealing with the possibly unethical conduct of other government officials is not a good thing.

Conflicts of Interest December 9, 2014

Local Officials Officiating at Restricted Sources' Weddings

According to an article yesterday on the Baltimore Brew website, a year ago Baltimore's mayor officiated at a wedding between two individuals who lobby the city government. In Las Vegas, no less.

Mayors, judges and, sometimes, other local government officials often officiate at weddings. Some ethics codes have a special exception from the gift ban that allows for this, but most make no mention of it.

Conflicts of Interest March 1, 2011

Local Officials Sitting on Community Boards

I don't usually turn over an entire blog post to someone else, although I would like very much to do it. This letter to the editor by Kevin Haggerty, the Lackawanna County (PA) deputy director of government and community affairs (and candidate for state representative), which appeared in the Times Leader on Saturday, is too well written to summarize, and it says it all.

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 14, 2014

Local or State Jurisdiction Over Local Legislators?

Is local government ethics enforcement appropriate for local legislators? This question is currently being asked in Sarasota County, FL and Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS. A key to whether this is the right question is who is asking the question. In both cases, it is local legislators who have been respondents in ethics enforcement proceedings, and some of their legislative colleagues.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play February 13, 2014

Local Public Campaign Financing and Independent Spending

In a recent blog post, the background issue was the effect of independent spending on a local public campaign financing program in Santa Fe.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play September 4, 2013

Local Public Financing Programs Make Elections More Local

When people write about public campaign financing programs, they tend to focus on participation percentages and the size of the campaign contributions.

Ethics Codes & Reform April 4, 2009

Local vs. State Ethics Programs -- An Excellent Column on the Topic

State or local ethics laws, state or local ethics training, state or local disclosure forms, state or local ethics enforcement? This is probably the biggest issue in local government ethics. And it's a very complicated one, which I have only rarely dealt with. There are good (and bad) arguments on both sides, as well as practical, political, constitutional, and funding considerations to take into account.