Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

October 2, 2013

Shaking Down or Institutional Corruption?

There is a fact of life that is very hard for many local elected officials to admit: most of the campaign contributions given to incumbents and serious challengers come from two sources: those seeking special benefits from the government and those who work for the government (and their unions). If both of these groups were not permitted to make campaign contributions, local elections would be contested with very little money, unless the government instituted a public campaign financing program.

Transparency & Disclosure December 17, 2012

Shell Companies and Disclosure

Transparency in government should not be limited only to officials. Disclosure rules should also apply to everyone seeking special benefits from government, such as contracts, permits, or grants. For one thing, without transparency on both sides of every transaction, it is impossible for the public or officials to know if there are any conflicts that particular officials need to deal with.

April 16, 2008

Shorstein: lobbyist rules should be enforced

04/16/2008
by David Chapman
Staff Writer
From: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=49846

As of Tuesday, discussions between the City Ethics Commission and Office of General Counsel were ongoing about how to handle the issue of 10 area lobbyists not in compliance with new code requirements regarding disclosure of clients.

October 8, 2010

Should a District Attorney Be Counsel to a Council?

The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday ran a fascinating article about Dallas County's district attorney. It caught my interest because he was accused of a conflict of interest, but accusing this district attorney of a conflict of interest is like accusing King Kong of being big.

The Dallas County DA is the county's chief law enforcement officer. He also represents the Commissioners' Court (the county council) in civil matters.

Local Government Practice July 11, 2009

Should a Local Government Attorney Represent Both the Executive and Legislative Branches?

As I have noted again and again, there is no more difficult, conflicted role than that of a local government attorney. In small towns, there's not a lot that can be done. But in cities and counties, there are several things that can be done to lessen the local government attorney's conflicts.

Ethics Commissions & Administration August 21, 2010

Should an Ethics Commission Member Be Affiliated with a Firm That Represents Clients Before It?

Last Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a long article, "Connections Count at Law Firm," on the Washington/Atlanta-based law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. This firm was known to me primarily as the firm behind the Pay to Pay Law Blog, a good, although too infrequent blog that looks at government ethics and campaign finance from the compliance side, that is, fr

Local Government Practice February 21, 2011

Should an Ethics Provision Limit an Official's Discretion to Withdraw?

An article in the Bismarck (ND) Tribune this weekend raised the issue of when a board or commission member may withdraw from a matter in which he feels he has a conflict, but where there is not a direct, pecuniary interest.

Transparency & Disclosure July 8, 2008

Should an Unaccountable Former Officeholder Retain Power over Public Information? - Personal vs. Public Interest

One of the interesting things about the attorney-client privilege in a government setting is that the privilege -- which is, of course, the client's, not the lawyer's -- is held by the office, not by the individual holding the office at the time of the communication. This is a major reason why the attorney-client privilege is different in a government context: whenever a government official tells something to a government attorney, the official knows that his or her successor might waive the privilege and disclose the communication or direct the lawyer to do so.

Enforcement & Complaints July 14, 2014

Should Legislator-Lobbyist Communications Be Subject to the Legislative Immunity Privilege?

The Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution protects activities within the "legislative sphere" from being heard outside the legislature, and prevents the introduction of evidence of legislative activity in any such hearing. A recent brief from the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee in S.E.C. v. Ways and Means Committee argues (on pp.

Ethics Codes & Reform August 30, 2013

Should the Josephson Institute's Principles of Public Ethics Be Enforceable Rules?

Should the Josephson Institute's Five Principles of Public Ethics be enforceable by a local government? And if not, why not?

May 29, 2014

Signs of Institutional Corruption in Albany, NY (The City, Not the Capital)

Alysia Santo wrote an excellent Insider Politics column in the Albany Times-Union last week on the need for a post-employment provision in the city that is the capital of New York state. But the columnist went further than this, looking at some aspects of the city's institutionalized corruption (without actually giving it a name).

April 26, 2010

Signs of the Times

(illustration from illegalsigns.ca, Toronto)

I haven't mentioned billboard companies in my blog. It's about time. Billboard companies can be a serious source of apparent impropriety and corruption in local government. And this is an important time for them, because things are changing in the billboard world. It's no longer mostly about old-fashioned billboards along highways. It's digital supergraphics on buildings and all sorts of 21st-century innovations that require new laws and regulations. But the same old constitutional issues remain.

Local Government Practice August 15, 2010

Simultaneous, Political Appointments and the Ethical Culture of an Authority

The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) has been getting a lot of heat lately. The bi-state organization operates four toll bridges and a commuter system between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.

Conflicts of Interest April 25, 2014

Sitting on a Board with Restricted Sources

According to an article this week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the new mayor of Poplar Bluff, MO is a gadfly who had been totally ignored when she questioned the dealings of her town government. This is generally a sign of a very poor ethics environment.

Ethics Codes & Reform October 15, 2010

Situational Ethics Is Inappropriate in a Government Ethics Context

The term "situational ethics" derives from a particular theory of a priest named Joseph Fletcher, but it is more generally understood to mean dealing with ethics in terms of a particular situation and particular goals (ends-oriented ethics). In other words, it is ethics that allows for different rules in different circumstances, but also for self-serving, sometimes hypocritical, ethical statements and actions.

June 3, 2011

Slapping Down a Council Colleague with a Self-Regulated Ethics Program

It's hard to know where to start with a situation in Crescent City, CA, a town of 7,500 in northern California that has already been the subject of a City Ethics blog post.

One of the most striking things about the situation is that it is the first time I have seen an anti-SLAPP-suit defense used successfully against someone who appears to have been found guilty of an ethics violation in order to stop her criticism of council actions (that is, by SLAPPers against someone they themselves SLAPPed).

Conflicts of Interest December 15, 2010

Soft Landings and Other Revolving Door Matters

The COGEL conference last week had an excellent panel on the revolving door between government and business. One thing I learned is that the first post-employment laws were passed in the 1850s and 1860s, and they involved lawyers, a group that often argues that ethics laws should not apply to them (in fact, in Pennsylvania, someone said, revolving door laws cannot be applied to practicing attorneys). The idea of a cooling-off period after government service originated in 1955, well before the post-Watergate explosion of government ethics laws.

Conflicts of Interest November 16, 2010

Soliciting Funds for a Conference and an Arts Center

There are some interesting ethics issues being raised in Madison, Wisconsin.

The mayor of Madison was asked to co-chair a committee that will be raising funds to sponsor a national conference of urban designers and developers to be held in Madison. One job for the mayor would be to send out fundraising letters and follow up with phone calls to companies and individuals, including some that do business with the city.

December 27, 2009

Some Consequences of the Misuse of Power Involved in Elected Officials Squabbling

In a recent blog post, I listed the suits filed by Maricopa County's sheriff Joe Arpaio and county attorney Andrew Thomas against other county officials during the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws conference right in the heart of Maricopa County.

Ethics Codes & Reform May 20, 2014

Some Excellent Lobbying Reforms in NYC

A must-read for lobbying reformers! A series of fascinating amendments that were made to New York City's lobbying law last December will take effect this month. There are some reforms here that I've never seen anywhere else, and they raise some issues that need to be more widely discussed.