Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Resources & Learning April 16, 2010

Moral Clarity VIII - Transcending Our Limitations Through Ethics

This is the eighth and last in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008), which is itself inspired by the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. What’s wonderful about Kant’s approach to ethics is that it not only focuses on the role of reason. It also shows how ethics allows us to transcend our ordinary limitations.

Resources & Learning May 30, 2009

Moral Imagination

Due to President Obama, the word "empathy" is getting tossed around a lot lately. What interests me is that his definition of the word "empathy" is central to what ethicists call "moral imagination." And moral imagination is central to government ethics.

Here's Pres. Obama's definition of "empathy" from his book The Audacity of Hope:

Ethics Commissions & Administration September 20, 2013

More Bad Consequences of Gubernatorial Selection of EC Members in Georgia

I wrote about it in a June 2011 blog post, and then again in a June 2012 post, but it hasn't gone away. In fact, it became a big issue again this week when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provided new evidence that things might have been far worse than was suspected.

August 11, 2009

More Chicago Creativity

Chicago politicians are endlessly creative. A few weeks ago I wrote about an alderman on the zoning committee who pushed for zoning changes to help developers who used his wife as their realtor. It turns out that his boss, William J. P. Banks, head of the zoning committee, is going to have a retirement party.

Ethics Commissions & Administration November 4, 2010

More from Atlanta: The Usefulness of Advisories and of Seeking Comments on Draft Advisory Opinions

According to the Atlanta ethics office's fall newsletter, the Atlanta Board of Ethics reached a settlement with a council member who sought reimbursement from the city for costs related to her campaign newsletter, including payments to campaign workers who distributed it door-to-door in her district just before the 2009 election. She agreed to a fine of $1,500, plus restitution of $5,200 for city funds used to pay campaign expenses.

March 29, 2014

More on Florida's Ethics Reform Bills

In a blog post ten days ago, I predicted that Florida state senator Joe Abruzzo, the sponsor of SB 1474, would realize that the newly amended bill would not do what he really wanted and make the appropriate changes, so that the amended SB 1474 would be consistent with HB 1315.

Conflicts of Interest January 26, 2007

Multiple Hats

What's the difference between wearing multiple hats and having conflicts of interest? Former Vancouver City Manager Ken Dobell is the project manager (contractor, not employee) for a cultural precinct in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is also chair of the finance committee of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Enforcement & Complaints January 21, 2014

Multiple Signatures on an Ethics Complaint

Who should be allowed to file an ethics complaint? Certainly any citizen of the jurisdiction. But what about multiple citizens of the jurisdiction? Should an ethics commission exclude a complaint from them?

Ethics Codes & Reform February 5, 2008

Muncie, Indiana, and the Applicability of the ASPA Code of Ethics for a City Council:

According to an article in the Muncie (IN) Star Press, the Muncie City Council voted 5-4 not to adopt the American Society for Public Administration’s ethics code, something that hundreds of citizens at the meeting favored. Apparently, the one non-Council member who spoke out against voting for the code was the City Attorney, who “worried the proposed code of ethics was geared more toward administrators than a legislative body, and that it would create separation-of-power issues.”

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 15, 2014

Municipal Attorneys Should Stay Out of Ethics Proceedings

When a city or county attorney's office does not represent the ethics commission, should that office play any role in an ethics proceeding? I don't believe it should.

Conflicts of Interest March 10, 2007

Municipal Attorneys' Conflicting Obligations: A Case Study

Here's a difficult case involving a board of education's attorney. The board of education in a wealthy, medium-sized Connecticut town is represented by a large law firm that represents 80 boards of education across the state (half the state's total). That same firm is representing a developer that is suing the town's planning and zoning commission, and it appears to be a controversial matter. There is no doubt that the state's rules of professional conduct allow a firm to represent both a town and another client that is suing it, as long as there is no relationship between the matters.

December 9, 2010

Municipal Bid Rigging Nationwide and Ethics Day in Chicago

A Municipal Bid Rigging Scheme Comes to Light
According to an article in the New York Times this week, Banc of America Securities (which recently merged with Merrill Lynch) agreed to pay the SEC and others $137 million to settle charges related to a municipal bond bid-rigging scheme. For those who think competitive bidding rules are enough, this case should make you think otherwise.

May 1, 2009

Municipal Bond Policy Proposals in Tennessee

Last month, I wrote about problems involving municipal bond sales and advice in Tennessee. Yesterday, the state comptroller wrote a guest column explaining what went wrong with municipal bonds and suggesting some of what he will propose today to prevent such problems in the future.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play March 30, 2007

Municipal Campaign Disclosure Laws, Budgets, and Priorities

Laws are highly over-rated. This is one reason why the City Ethics Model Code Project is not just about codes, but the centerpiece of a wide-ranging discussion of all the issues involved in creating, improving, and maintaining local government ethics programs. Laws may be too highly over-rated, but budgets and priorities are too often under-rated. Take Denver. Denver requires political candidates to disclose the employers and occupations of anyone who gives them $200 or more.

Ethics Codes & Reform November 27, 2006

Municipal Ethics Codes: General Discussion of Their Importance, Types, and Their Role in a Municipal Ethics Program

City Ethics' Model Code Project assumes that an ethics code is central to municipal ethics programs. But this raises several issues. How important is an ethics code to an ethics program? Can an effective ethical environment be created without any sort of written ethics code?

April 30, 2009

Municipal Ethics Task Force in CT Bows to Town Officials

Recently, the Connecticut Task Force on Municipal Ethics discussed a draft report. Neither in the report, nor in the discussion, is there anything about ethics training, the independence of ethics commissions, or financial disclosure. Advisory opinions were not included in the draft, but were added in the discussion.

Local Government Practice January 10, 2008

Municipal Governments Can Grow Up, Too

Has your city’s government grown up yet, ethically speaking? This isn't as silly a question as it sounds. All of us develop morally, just as we develop physically and intellectually and emotionally. We just don’t see our height grow or get university degrees or get married and have children, ethically speaking. The same is true of municipal governments, according to James S. Bowman in his essay “The Ethical Professional,” which appears in The Ethics Edge, ed. Jonathan P. West and Evan M.

May 8, 2012

My Book Is Finally Available (and it's free)

The book I've been working on for what seems like ages is finally available! With the exciting title Local Government Ethics Programs, this is the first comprehensive resource book on the subject. The subtitle subtly hints at the audience for this book: A Resource for Ethics Commission Members, Ethics Reformers, Local Officials, Attorneys, Journalists, and Students. But I think ethics commission staff members will enjoy the book the most.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play December 3, 2013

Nagle on Withdrawal As Cure for Campaign Contributions

It was pointed out to me by Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, that back in 2000 John Copeland Nagle, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, wrote a law review article suggesting what I call the Westminster Approach to campaign contributions from those seeking benefits from the recipient official's government. The article, which focuses on Congress, is entitled "The Recusal Alternative to Campaign Finance Legislation" (37 Harv. J. on Legis. 69 (2000)).

Conflicts of Interest January 12, 2009

Narrow and Vague Ethics Code Definitions of "Doing Business"

The Baltimore mayor's attorney has, only days after his client was indicted, given a course to drafters of local government ethics codes on how not to define "doing business" with a local government.