Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Conflicts of Interest November 29, 2006

Misuse of City Property and Reimbursements

One conflict of interest is so basic it is sometimes left out of ethics codes: using city property or money for one's own use. Please share your thoughts about this conflict and your experiences with attempts to control it.

100(12).

Local Government Practice March 20, 2014

Misuse of Consent Agendas

Consent agendas, also known as consent calendars, are an excellent way to get around the disclosure of conflicts (and, as Dallas showed us in 2011, to amend ethics provisions without a discussion (see my blog post on this)).

Enforcement & Complaints August 1, 2012

Misuse of Ethics Enforcement Process

It's always disheartening to see high-level officials misuse an ethics program for the sake of personal revenge or, as the official says in the case I'm looking at here, to get "my name cleared."

Conflicts of Interest March 19, 2014

Misuse of Government Website Bios for Business Purposes

While researching my last blog post, I visited the webpage of Tallahassee mayor John Marks, and was thrown for a bit of a loop. The first two paragraphs of his bio look more like an advertisement for his law firm than the bio of a mayor:

John Marks, Mayor of the City of Tallahassee, practices law with his son at Marks and Marks, LLC. The firm focuses its practice on utility regulation, telecommunications and Internet law. Appointed by Governor Bob Graham in 1979, he served eight (8)

Local Government Practice January 10, 2012

Misuse of Official Commendations

Local governments often give special recognition to individuals and organizations. It's part of promoting the good works that are being done in the community. But it is also, of course, a form of preferential treatment. For every individual and organization that is recognized for good works, there are many others that are not recognized.

October 30, 2009

Misuse of the Baltimore City Foundation

Update: November 11, 2009 (see below)

Is there any worse way to skirt government ethics rules and misuse public money and position than via a charitable organization? And yet it happens again and again. This time it happened in Baltimore, according to the results of an extensive investigation by the Baltimore Sun.

Conflicts of Interest May 11, 2012

Misusing the Opportunities Given By One's Government Position

Imagine that you're a county supervisor with a $92,000 salary and, despite the salary, you're allowed to hold an outside job (because the county supervisors before you gave you, and themselves, this opportunity). With a sizeable salary, there would appear to be no reason to work in any field that would create an appearance of impropriety.

March 17, 2015

MO Municipal Ticket Fixing Systems

More from St. Louis County municipalities. According to an article in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, several of these municipalities — with the connivance of municipal court judges, local prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers — use the state's point system for traffic tickets to get more money for themselves. The result is a system of ticket fixing that takes institutional corruption to a new level.

Ethics Codes & Reform November 30, 2006

Model Ethics Code Released !!!

February 20, 2014

Montgomery County, MD Public Campaign Financing Bill Introduced

According to an article in the Washington Post, two weeks ago, a public campaign financing bill (attached; see below) was introduced, cosponsored by all council members of Montgomery County, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC with about one million inhabitants, home to Silver Spring, Bethesda, Rockville, and Gaithersburg.

July 10, 2009

Montreal Investigations -- Anything But Dull

We here in the U.S. like to think of Canadians as like us, but better. More honest, less greedy, more accepting of diversity, etc. And they pay for it by being dull.

November 25, 2015

Montreal's Charbonneau Commission Report Is Published

The big news in local government ethics yesterday was the publication of the final report of Quebec's Charbonneau Commission, which investigated bid rigging in the Montreal area, involving not only government officials and contractors, but also the Mafia and Hells Angels (see my 2012 blog post on the investigation).

Conflicts of Interest October 7, 2010

Moonlighting for a Vendor and Donations of Sick Time from Subordinates

There's a lot to learn from the chief of New Orleans' emergency medical service's past conflicts of interest, which have only recently become public. Despite the compassion one must feel for the official, the conflicts were poorly handled by her and by the former mayor and his administration.

Resources & Learning April 5, 2010

Moral Clarity I - Reason and Ideals

I recently read Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008) and found a lot there of value to government ethics, even though government ethics doesn’t generally involve the big questions of moral philosophy (see my blog post on this).

Resources & Learning April 6, 2010

Moral Clarity II - Intentions

This is the second in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008).

Resources & Learning April 7, 2010

Moral Clarity III - Ethics Environments

This is the third in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman's book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). One of her topics is how an individual’s organizational environment can greatly affect his or her conduct. Her goal is not to excuse misconduct, but to explain it and to look at ways of avoiding it. She focuses on two well-known experiments.

Resources & Learning April 8, 2010

Moral Clarity IV - Self-Interest

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman's book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008).

Resources & Learning April 12, 2010

Moral Clarity V - The Categorical Imperative and Exceptionalism

In my first blog post relating to Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008), I referred to Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative.” It’s time to say a little more about it.

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 13, 2010

Moral Clarity VI - Independent Ethics Enforcement

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008).

The impersonality of the categorical imperative, which I discussed in my last blog post, is paralleled in the independence of government ethics enforcement.

Resources & Learning April 15, 2010

Moral Clarity VII - Confidential Information

This is the seventh in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). Neiman’s discussion of Daniel Ellsberg, the government official who let us know about the Pentagon Papers, shows the effect that access to confidential information has on government officials. It’s very similar to the effect of power.