Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

November 8, 2010

Taking Responsibility for Planting Rats

Former House majority leader Tom DeLay is currently on trial for laundering $200,000 in PAC contributions from corporate lobbyists through the Republican National Committee to Texas candidates. In Texas, corporate money cannot be used for political campaigns.

Ethics Codes & Reform June 22, 2011

Taking State Laws Into Account When Drafting Ethics Provisions

It is important to take state laws into account when drafting ethics provisions, especially in local governments that do not have home rule charters. Here are two situations in the news where this was not done, and ethics reform has been undermined. Dealing with the state laws from the beginning could have made the ethics codes, and the ethics reform process, far better.

Numerous Ethics Provisions Declared Illegal in Kane County, IL

Conflicts of Interest October 8, 2009

Taking the Big Ethical Step from Government Lawyer to Mayor

How can a lawyer responsibly deal with the following situation? A former city attorney, he has been general counsel to the city's sports authority, which oversees three major sports with three stadiums (and there's talk of a fourth, which the lawyer has publicly supported). The lawyer is also special counsel to the city's transit and port authorities, which the firm represents. And the firm is bond counsel to the school district.

May 15, 2014

Talk of Ethics Reform in Oakland and Sarasota County

An Oakland Ethics Reform Proposal

April 27, 2015

Tallahassee Referendum

Huffington Post article on the 11/4 referendum...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/tallahassee-anti-corruption_n_…

November 5, 2014

Tallahassee, FL Passes Ethics Reform Referendum

This was a project that was helped by Represent.US and supported by citizen groups from right to left. I worked on the drafting of the referendum language. Here is today's press release from Represent.US: On Nov. 4th, 2014, voters in Tallahassee, Florida, made history by approving the first city Anti-Corruption Act in the United States by an overwhelming 2 – 1 margin. A small but dedicated group of progressives, conservatives, and independents put aside their differences to wage a historic battle against corruption in their community, and they won.

Local Government Practice March 2, 2009

Telling Local Government Officials About Honest Services Fraud

One argument rarely made for effective government ethics programs is that they will prevent government officials from being prosecuted for "honest services fraud."

Honest services fraud is to bribery what manslaughter is to murder. Sort of. By this I mean that many officials accused of bribery plead down to honest services fraud, a lesser, but still serious crime (the maximum sentence is 20 years).

Ethics Codes & Reform January 2, 2013

Tennessee's Model Ethics Codes Fail to Create Local Ethics Programs

It's been six years since I last wrote about local government ethics in Tennessee.

February 25, 2011

Term Limits and the Poor Handling of a Conflict in Pierce County, WA

Term limits, the recession, a new kind of governmental district, and a drive to save and manage local parks have all contributed to a fascinating ethics situation in Pierce County, Washington, home of Tacoma. Just last year I stayed in Pierce County and visited some of these parks, so this story is a little more concrete to me than most I write about.

Park Districts

October 6, 2008

Term Limits in Time of Crisis -- Staying in Power vs. Upholding the Law

Updated Oct. 10, 2008; see final three paragraphs

New York City is in a crisis. But its mayor and 2/3 of its City Council will have to leave office due to term limits imposed by referendum in the 1990s.

Resources & Learning April 4, 2007

Terry Cooper's The Responsible Administrator - Thinking Ethically

There is so much valuable material in Terry L. Cooper's book The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role (1998) that it's difficult to sum up in a review. So instead I will look at some of its most important points in a few separate blog entries. Responsibility is the key to municipal ethics as well as administration.

Transparency & Disclosure July 13, 2012

Text Messages as Public Records (i.e., Government Property)

There is a serious controversy going on right now in Jacksonville regarding the transparency of text messages by local government officials concerning government business. This is an issue where most governments have failed to keep up with technology. That's common, of course. But from a government ethics point of view, what is most important is how the issue is approached.

Ethics Codes & Reform July 26, 2007

The Accountability of Sharing Our Mistakes

What a nice thing to wake up to: reading in the newspaper that at least some American institutions are using words like 'transparency' and 'accountability' as if they really meant it. In an article in today's New York Times, we learn that foundations are now publicizing their failures as well as their successes. A consultant to foundations is quoted as saying, 'there's an increasing recognition among foundation leaders that not to be public about failures is essentially indefensible.

March 4, 2015

The Administrative-Criminal Enforcement Fiefdom in Ferguson, MO

The word "fiefdom" does not appear in the U.S. Justice Department's March 4 report on Ferguson, MO's police department, but that is what the report describes. What is unusual about the fiefdom is that it is controlled by the council, not by an executive or attorney. It is far from a classic fiefdom, which is why Ferguson has once again attracted my attention.

Transparency & Disclosure August 14, 2010

The Advantages of Annual Financial Disclosure

Here's a good followup to yesterday's blog post about a conflict of interest in Tucson.

Ethics Commissions & Administration July 8, 2013

The Advantages of Having an IG Be Part of a Local Ethics Program

In New Orleans, it is the ethics board that selects the city's inspector general. According to an article in the July issue of New Orleans magazine, it took the city a long time to get an inspector general. The first time an IG's contract came up for renewal, the ethics board voted for it unanimously. The board chair, civic organizations, and business groups all praised his work.

Ethics Codes & Reform August 17, 2009

The Anti-Corruption Political Strategy. And an Alternative.

One of the principal reasons I have devoted myself to local government ethics is that the ethical habits of government officials and politicians are usually formed at the local level. Politicians who become accustomed to a poor local ethics environment bring their values to state and federal government.

Ethics Commissions & Administration July 9, 2013

The Appearance of Independence and a Monopoly On Advice

Two of the most important elements of a government ethics program are the appearance (and reality) of independence and a monopoly on ethics advice and enforcement. The government ethics program that has jurisdiction over the greatest number of local officials and employees in the U.S. has problems with respect to both of these elements. And its commission's selection of a new executive director, after two years without a formal director, emphasizes both of these problems.

Conflicts of Interest September 11, 2011

The Appropriateness of Business and Union Gifts to Government

It is a given (although not a fact) that everyone wants to make it as easy as possible to vote. Voting is the principal way most people participate in a democracy, and choosing our local officials is the way we determine the direction and quality of management of our community. In most countries, voting day is a day off, but this is not true for most people in the U.S. So it is important to find other ways of making voting easier for people with full-time jobs.

Ethics Commissions & Administration February 4, 2009

The Art of Making People Skittish

Move over, presidents, movie stars, and models. Welcome a local government ethics officer to your ranks.