Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Conflicts of Interest September 4, 2013

Subcontractors and Indirect Benefits

Ethics provisions dealing with contracts often ignore subcontractors. This leaves open a big loophole, through which an official can get a big piece of a contract by hiding behind a contractor. This is part of a larger problem: ignoring indirect benefits.

News & Commentary August 17, 2008

Success Stories

2006-06-21

New York Times Article: "At Ethics Camp, Not-So-Tall Tales From the Dark Side"

2006-06-21

Christian Science Monitor Article "Boot camp for city officials teaches 'a culture of ethics'"

2006-05-19

July 3, 2013

Suit Against Contractor Contribution Ban in Albuquerque

According to a New Mexico Telegram article, four Albuquerque contractors sued the city's ethics board, claiming that a 2007 charter provision banning contributions from contractors violates their free speech rights.

July 9, 2012

Summer Reading: The Righteous Mind I

Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (Pantheon, 2012) is a book that does not, from its title, appear to have much value for government ethics. But Haidt's approach to morality, and his look at how people approach morality, provides a lot of food for thought about government ethics, enough to fill nine blog posts.

Moral Systems

Resources & Learning September 11, 2012

Summer Reading: What Money Can't Buy I

Harvard professor Michael Sandel's new book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar Straus, 2012) has a lot to say about the effect of commercial, market values on American culture, including on American government. Sandel's book focuses on "the expansion of markets, and of market values, into spheres of life where they don't belong. … We need to ask whether there are some things money should not buy." This question leads us to the core of government ethics.

Resources & Learning September 12, 2012

Summer Reading: What Money Can't Buy II

This second of two posts on Michael Sandel's new book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar Straus, 2012), includes a few fascinating takes on different aspects of government ethics, including preferential treatment, municipal marketing, skyboxes, and the sensitive topic of inappropriate incentives.

A Fresh Way of Looking at Preferential Treatment

July 23, 2015

Summer Reading: "Manipulatory Politics"

Robert E. Goodin's book Manipulatory Politics (Yale Univ. Press, 1980) is valuable for its "cataloguing [of] various modes of political manipulation," as the author wrote in his Preface. Goodin found only a few of the cases "ethically worrisome," but the fact that I disagree does not make the catalog any less valuable.

Definitions

July 11, 2013

Summer Reading: Beyond Culture

Edward T. Hall's classic book, Beyond Culture (Anchor Books, 1976), is not a government ethics book. But a lot of the wisdom in this brilliant book can be applied to our field.

Resources & Learning August 21, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics - Michael Johnston's Essay

Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Myers (Cambria, 2011), has some excellent essays, especially those that deal with institutional corruption. The only serious criticism I have of the book is its price: $30 in both paperback and e-book formats.

Resources & Learning August 23, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics II - Mark Warren's Essay

The second essay in Corruption and American Politics, a collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by Mark E. Warren, a professor at the University of British Columbia. It asks the question, Is low trust in democratic institutions a problem of corruption?

Resources & Learning August 24, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics III - John Parrish's Essay

The third essay in Corruption and American Politics, a collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by John M. Parrish, a professor at Loyola Marymount University. The essay, which has the intriguing title "Benevolent Skulduggery," starts out by asking the question, Is corruption ever justified? My short answer is that there are moral dilemmas where one must choose the least of two or more bad ways of handling a matter.

Resources & Learning August 25, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics IV - Wayne Le Cheminant's Essay

The fourth essay in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by Wayne S. Le Cheminant. The title of the essay – "Bending the Frame to Corrupt the Lenses" – provides a good picture of his fascinating approach to government ethics.

Resources & Learning August 27, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics V - Ethical Leadership and Lobbyist-Campaign Consultants

The fifth essay in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011), is by editor Michael Genovese, a professor at Loyola Marymount University.

Resources & Learning August 30, 2012

Summer Reading: Corruption and American Politics VI - The Final Three Essays

This post looks at the final three essays in Corruption and American Politics, an essay collection edited by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers (Cambria, 2011).

Pay to Play in the Municipal Bond Market

August 27, 2015

Summer Reading: Eula Biss's "On Immunity"

Eula Biss's excellent book On Immunity (Graywolf Press, 2014) is not about legislative immunity, but about immunity to diseases. And yet there is a great deal of food for thought in it about municipal ethics.

Conflicts of Interest September 5, 2013

Summer Reading: Government Lawyers and Confidentiality

I did a huge amount of reading this summer for a paper I wrote for the journal Public Integrity (and otherwise). The first piece of reading I'm going to talk about is one of the otherwise.

June 24, 2015

Summer Reading: Jonathan Rauch on the Positives of Machines

Last month, Jonathan Rauch published a sincere and well-written defense of political machines, entitled "Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money, and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy" (Brooking Institution Press; available free as a PDF or e-book). Although the essay scarcely mentions conflicts of interest, gifts, nepotism, and the like, and it makes no mention at all of conflicts of interest programs, ethics advice, or lobbying, it is essential reading.

June 9, 2012

Summer Reading: Judith Shklar's "The Faces of Injustice"

I recently read Judith N. Shklar's book The Faces of Injustice (Yale U.P., 1990). This excellent essay about the difference between misfortune and injustice would not appear to have much to do with government ethics. But there turns out to be much relevant food for thought.

Resources & Learning June 12, 2015

Summer Reading: Lee Drutman's "The Business of America Is Lobbying"

Lee Drutman’s The Business of America is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Politicized and Politics Became More Corporate (2015) is an excellent book about corporate lobbying at the federal level.

September 9, 2013

Summer Reading: Richard Painter on Ethics Reform I

Richard W. Painter's Getting the Government America Deserves: How Ethics Reform Can Make a Difference (Oxford U.P., 2009) may be about the federal executive branch ethics program, but this excellent book also has a lot to offer to local government ethics. This is the first of three blog posts about this book, focusing on Painter's recommendations for ethics reform and how they could be applied to local government ethics programs.

Contractors et al.