Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Conflicts of Interest July 27, 2009

Robert's Rules Has a Conflict of Interest Rule for Local Governments with No Conflict Provisions

The great majority of local governments that think they have no state or local law or rules regarding local officials' conflicts of interest do actually have a conflict of interest rule.

This rule is hidden in Robert's Rules, which is usually the set of rules under which local government bodies operate. Here is what it says in §45 (Voting Procedure), in the first subsection on Rights and Obligations in Voting (I'm quoting from the Perseus Publishing tenth edition, pp.394-395):

Enforcement & Complaints January 24, 2014

Rooting for the Refuseniks

A passing statement in yesterday's New York Times article on the continuously unfolding story of NJ governor Chris Christie's bullying led me to wonder why it is that indictments based on sting operations focus only on the government officials who give in to the sting's temptations. Not only is this not fair to the many officials who withstand the temptations, but it also gives a false picture to the public of the officials they elect.

Enforcement & Complaints October 1, 2010

Rules Disallowing Complaints Before Elections

Many jurisdictions have a rule that disallows the filing of an ethics complaint against an elected official within so many days before an election. The purpose of such a rule is to prevent the abuse of the ethics process for political purposes. But is this the best solution to this problem?

Conflicts of Interest November 11, 2011

Rules for Officials "Dating" Lobbyists

“The concern with potential corruption does not stop just because the relationship has entered the bedroom.’’

Resources & Learning March 28, 2007

Rushworth Kidder's Book Moral Courage

Rushworth Kidder's 2005 book Moral Courage is something all municipal officials should read. It's not only a good introduction to ethics, but it focuses on the quality that is most important to create and maintain an ethical environment in any organization, and especially in governments. But since you probably won't read the book, here are a few of Kidder's points that will most profit municipal officials. Moral courage's principal purpose is to take values from the theoretical to the practical, from thought to action.

April 6, 2015

Safra Center for Ethics website: Jacksonville Referendum

September 28, 2012

San Antonio Officials Mishandle the Mishandling of a Conflict Situation

According to an article in the San Antonio Express-News this week, San Antonio's deputy city manager is concerned about whether he mishandled a conflict situation. It involved his participation on a bid review committee for a $300 million contract for an expansion to the city's convention center. While on the bid review committee, he interviewed for and accepted a job with a nonprofit whose focus is downtown development.

August 9, 2006

San Diego: A Great Case Study in Conflicts of Interest

Reading the newspapers, you might not realize that behind all the fraud, non-disclosure, and "reckless mismanagement" that former S.E.C. Chair Arthur Levitt found in San Diego's pension and wastewater systems were serious conflicts of interest.

October 20, 2008

San Diego: An Unappreciative Council and a Close Look at the Revolving Door

Sometimes city councils feel compelled to write or improve their city's ethics law due to a scandal. Sometimes city councils are compelled by a ballot measure. And in both instances, the council isn't happy with the result.

In San Diego, the ethics code came via ballot measure in 2002, and yes, the city council doesn't seem all that happy with the result. So it is doing what it can to undermine the ballot measure and to keep the ethics commission's work out of the public eye.

Ethics Commissions & Administration December 12, 2009

San Diego: More Tension Between EC and Council

The relationship between San Diego's council and ethics commission continues to prove unhealthy. It shows how wrong it is for elected officials to appoint and control the body that oversees their conduct.

According to an article in today's Union-Tribune, a long-term EC investigation has led to an accusation that a council member did not report campaign expenses until eight months after they were incurred. That should be the central story, but it's not.

June 24, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

As the official name implies, the City and County San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a charter city and charter county with a consolidated government, a status it has had since 1856. It is the only such consolidation in California and the only California county with a mayor who is also the county executive.

Transparency & Disclosure November 10, 2015

San Jose Shows the Importance of Ongoing Lobbying Disclosure

In my chapter on local lobbying, I argue that even quarterly disclosure of lobbying activities is not sufficiently timely and that lobbyists' disclosures should be supplemented by the disclosures of high-level officials.

January 19, 2010

SC Bill on Local Government Budget Transparency

When I started getting involved with my town's government several years ago, I quickly found that limited access to budget and other financial information was a serious problem. The town government would not even put the annual budget online, despite the fact that my town has town meetings to discuss the budget and a budget referendum thereafter. It was clear that the board of selectmen and the department heads did not want the public to be able to prepare for these meetings and ask difficult questions.

Transparency & Disclosure July 5, 2012

School District Lobbying: Defining, Disclosing, Penalizing

Defining what lobbying is is one of the most important parts of a lobbying law. Not only are many definitions of lobbying unclear or full of loopholes, but it is difficult to get even a good definition across, because the popular concept of lobbying is different from what lobbying really is.

May 13, 2011

School Officials Participate in Sports Equipment Reconditioning Fraud

As a postscript to the Jersey Sting, on Wednesday, according to a Justice Department press release, the former CFO and CEO of a company that reconditioned and sold athletic equipment to schools and universities were in

Conflicts of Interest April 15, 2008

Scientists Lead the Way to Refusing Honoraria

Many municipal codes of ethics, including the City Ethics Model Code (Section 100(15)), contain a provision prohibiting the acceptance of fees and honoraria for articles, appearances, or speeches. Today’s New York Times Science section contains an article about research scientists starting to refuse fees and honoraria.

Conflicts of Interest December 9, 2010

Scrutinizing Strict Scrutiny in a Government Ethics Context

This week the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) met in Washington, D.C. and, as usual, I learned about a lot of cases and matters I didn't know about. I will be sharing some of the more important of my new revelations in blog posts over the next couple of weeks.

June 24, 2006

SEATTLE

Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission

One of the missions of The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission is to administer, interpret and enforce the Seattle Code of Ethics, Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 4.16 (SMC 4.16). The Code provides a standard of conduct for all City officers and employees, which includes all elected and appointed officials, all City employees, and members of boards and commissions, paid and unpaid.

November 5, 2015

Seattle Public Campaign Financing Initiative Passes

Seattle's public campaign financing Initiative I-122 passed easily on Tuesday. It should prove to be an excellent experiment in campaign finance vouchers, an idea that has been batted about at the federal level, as well.

November 12, 2013

Seattle Rejects Public Financing and Embraces District Council Elections

In my estimation, Seattle voters made a big mistake last week. They voted for two related changes to their government. One was a public campaign financing program for citywide council elections. The other was a change from citywide council elections to district council elections, which would leave only two citywide positions.