Safra Working Papers | City Ethics

Ethics Codes & Reform July 18, 2010

Ways to Achieve Ethics Reform

There are many ways to get ethics reform going (the Lone Ranger being out of fashion outside of New York State), but the choices are different in different states, and it's hard to know which one is best or most practicable for a particular community.

Ethics Codes & Reform June 5, 2009

Ways to Prevent or Slow Down Ethics Reform

I am always fascinated at the ways in which even the most reform-minded politicians can kill ethics reform proposals that might cause them some embarrassment. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has done a great deal for ethics reform, but at least one reform bill, which on its face seems pretty minor, has apparently gotten in his craw.

Conflicts of Interest April 7, 2014

We Can Learn Something About "Ingratiation and Access" from Journalists

The subject of Margaret Sullivan's Public Editor column in yesterday's New York Times is the corrupting influence of journalists getting too close to their sources. In other words, in the language of C.J. Roberts, "ingratiation and access." With respect to local government ethics, the subject would be the corrupting influence of relationships between local officials and those seeking special benefits from the local government.

Conflicts of Interest March 27, 2010

We Do Not Live by Financial Interests Alone

The tendency of local government ethics codes to limit conflicts to financial interests is one of my pet peeves. A current matter in Tacoma shows the downside of this limited definition of interests that can conflict.

Ethics Commissions & Administration October 5, 2007

We Need a Support Network

I've just finished reading a book called Illicit by Moises Naim, about the trafficking of everything from people and drugs to artworks and counterfeit DVDs . One of the things Naim focuses on is why governments have so much trouble putting a dent into any of these types of trafficking. The principal reason is the structure of relationships. Government bureaucracies lose out to increasingly flexible networks of individuals. In the municipal ethics world, the situation is similar, but even worse outside the larger cities.

Conflicts of Interest July 6, 2009

Wearing Two Hats in a Community Nonprofit Transaction

It is common for mayors and council members to take volunteer positions on the boards of community nonprofits. Sometimes it's primarily honorific, but sometimes it shows a special commitment to a particular program or project, and sometimes it involves a leadership position. Such a position can create real or apparent conflicts of interest.

January 22, 2010

Welcome to the City Ethics website!

CITY ETHICS is a non-profit organization formed in 2000. Its purpose is to provide a centralized location for information and resources for all forms of local government ethics programs. City Ethics was started by attorney and former federal prosecutor Carla Miller and her husband, Don McClintock, who has a long career in the technology sector.
The idea for City Ethics was "hatched" at the 2000 national conference of COGEL, the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws. (See: www.cogel.org)

Ethics Commissions & Administration February 25, 2010

What Can Ethics Officials Do Outside Their Jurisdiction?

New York City has had more problems with council earmarks than Washington, D.C. (see recent blog post on D.C.), and now the city's ombudsman has come up with a different approach, an approach from outside the council, in fact, from someone with no actual jurisdiction over the council. His plan shows that ethics officers or bodies can make a difference even where they have no actual jurisdiction.

Ethics Codes & Reform April 22, 2011

What Is Free Speech?

In a letter to the editor in yesterday's New York Times, two lawyers who represent clients seeking to gut Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections public campaign financing program end by calling Arizona's program "a vision of unconstitutional dystopia, not free speech."

Local Government Practice July 29, 2014

What Is the Role of a Definition of "Lobbying"?

An interesting debate about lobbying and advisory groups can be found on the Austin Bulldog website.

September 16, 2008

What It Takes to Bring Down Government Leaders -- Thailand and Detroit

When U.S. presidents, or even mayors, are brought down by ethics violations, it takes some pretty hefty skullduggery and covering up to do it. But according to a Christian Science Monitor article this week, with the great title "As a TV chef, Thai P.M. cooked his own goose," Thailand's Constitutional Court ordered the prime minister to quit because he moonlighted as a television chef, with all the covering up coming in the form of sauces.

Conflicts of Interest November 12, 2012

What Makes a Conflict Problematic

A conflict situation in Albuquerque presents an excellent opportunity to consider just what it is about conflicts that makes them problematic. According to an article in the Albuquerque Journal on Saturday, the chair of Albuquerque's Police Oversight Commission also directs the auxiliary of the local branch of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and her husband is president of the state FOP.

December 18, 2009

What Plaxico Burress Can Teach Us About Government Ethics

There are a lot of stupid reasons for opposing ethics reform initiatives, but an organization in Utah has pulled a Plaxico Burress with the stupidest of all.

The organization, Gun Owners of Utah, opposes Utah's ethics reform initiative because "it contains a de-facto gun registration clause."

Conflicts of Interest April 24, 2014

What to Do About "Machers"

Earlier this month, a bill came before the Israeli legislature, the Knesset, called the Machers Bill. Its goal is to expand the Knesset's lobbying law to the executive branch as well as to municipalities, something that is rare in American states.

Conflicts of Interest June 5, 2012

What to Do, and Not to Do, When a Conflict Situation Becomes Public

What is the worst thing a government official can do when a conflict situation becomes public? Is it worse to misrepresent the law, to make accusations against those making the conflict situation public, or to ignore the situation and hope nobody notices?

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play April 4, 2013

What to Say Instead of "I Can't Be Bought"

We often hear elected officials saying, "I can't be bought at any price." The assumption behind this statement is that there is no amount of money, no job offer, nothing that will make the elected official act or vote any way than the way he otherwise intends to act or vote, that he cannot be influenced.

Conflicts of Interest December 21, 2012

What We Can Learn from Robert Bork's Failure to Deal Responsibly with a Conflict Situation

The death of Robert Bork is a good time to learn from the biggest mistake in his life, one that may have cost him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. It involved his failure to deal responsibly with a superior's conflict of interest, and his own, since his superior forced his conflict situation onto Bork himself.

April 22, 2012

What We Can Learn from Walmart's Extensive Bribery in Mexico

Today, the New York Times ran a length investigatory report on Walmart's extensive bribery of local Mexican officials intended to rush through permits and zoning approvals, reduce environmental impact fees, and gain the allegiance of these officials.

The Independence of Investigators

October 23, 2008

What's At Stake in New York City?

I've already written about the conflict of interest problems involved in the New York City term limits dispute.

Ethics Codes & Reform April 7, 2010

What's Wrong with This Picture?

The mayor of a city of 46,000 people announces that the city would change its policy requiring annexation to obtain water and sewer service, and then negotiates an agreement with a developer to provide him with utilities. In the middle of the negotiations, the developer gives the mayor's campaign a $10,000 contribution.