Safra Working Papers

February 1, 2008

New National Government Ethics Survey Shows That Too Few Local Governments Have Strong Ethical Cultures

The Ethics Resource Center’s first National Government Ethics Survey has just come out, and is available free at the ERC’s website, although it requires registration. It is the result of a random 2007 telephone poll of government employees, and is part of a series of polls looking at ethics in different sorts of workplaces. City Ethics' Founder, Carla Miller, was on the Advisory Group for this survey. Here are some of the Survey’s findings relating to local governments.
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February 19, 2010

New Poll Results on Corporate and Union Independent Expenditures

It's worth noting two Washington Post-ABC News poll questions concerning the Citizens United decision on corporate-funded independent expenditures. Most notable is the fact that the reaction was roughly the same across the political spectrum. The ruling was opposed by 85% of Democrats polled, 76% of Republicans, and 81% of independents. These days, it's rare to have such a response on any important issue.
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September 14, 2012

New Prince George's County (MD) Ethics Reform Proposal

One of the wonderful things about local government ethics is that every mayor or county executive feels qualified to act as if he was establishing the first local government ethics program ever. It's sort of like choosing what will go in a bento box, except that there are no rules (e.g., only one sushi roll, or you've got to have miso or the clear soup).
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April 14, 2012

New Wayne County, MI Ethics Code Falls Short

On April 5, the county commission in Wayne County, MI (which includes Detroit) passed a new ethics ordinance (attached; see below), following multiple scandals. It contains many good provisions, but it does not create a government ethics program.
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February 10, 2010

New York City Council Member Indicted for Misuse of Slush Fund, But He Was Enabled by Many Other Officials

It's been almost two years since the New York Times broke the story on the abuses of New York City council earmarks slush fund, which totaled about $50 million a year. This week, the council member featured in the Times article was expelled from the state senate for a violent act committed against his female companion, according to an article in yesterday's Times.
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November 24, 2008

New York City's Doing Business Database Goes Online

The NYC Campaign Finance Board has put together an excellent Doing Business Database, consisting of a searchable list of individuals (principal owners, principal officers, and senior managers of entities) “doing business” with a wide assortment of city agencies and quasi-governmental entities, including through contracts, bids or proposals for contracts, concessions, franchises, grants, economic development agreements, and pension fund investment agreements, as well as those engaged in real property transactions (the sa
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July 14, 2007

Newark, NJ: The Ethical Damage of Hiding Corruption Behind a Racial Screen

According to a 33-count indictment filed yesterday by the United States Attorney for New Jersey, former Newark, NJ mayor Sharpe James appears to have been just another crooked urban mayor out to help himself and his friends to the sort of perks that aren't supposed to come with public service: trips, tickets, cruises, the usual. What is sad about this particular instance of corruption is that James is a folk hero in Newark, despite the fact that he continues to deny all charges and that he shows no concern about furth
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Conflicts of Interest April 2, 2007

No Conflict in Voting for Oneself

In an earlier blog entry, I took the side of the Louisiana Board of Ethics in its dispute with the state legislature over whether it has jurisdiction over legislators who participate in debate when they have a conflict of interest. In another case, which the Board of Ethics lost on appeal, I feel the Board of Ethics was wrong, and I feel it is instructive to say why. The matter involved two parish council members who voted for themselves for mayor pro-tem.
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Conflicts of Interest March 30, 2007

No Conflict Without Profit? - Exasperating Quote of the Day

A former chancellor of Maricopa Community College in Phoenix, Arizona continued to work for the college on contract, while also having a business on the side that did business with the college on a no-bid basis. The business was set up by the college when he was chancellor and was given to him a few months after he retired. The former chancellor denies any conflict of interest because his business (Sedona Conferences and Conversations, which does business with colleges around the world) is not always profitable. 'If I were really crazy about making money, I wouldn't be doing Sedona.
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October 15, 2013

No Enforcement Against the Complicit in a California Case

Court decisions, especially when combined with criminal enforcement of ethics violations, can be very harmful to local government ethics. The court in a Monterey County case involving a serious §1090 conflict of interest matter that officials were not only aware of, but appear to have helped create, has used two recent California court decisions to limit prosecution to just one official.
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