Safra Working Papers

Ethics Commissions & Administration January 23, 2007

Clearing the Air?: The Independence of Ethics Commissions

When an ethics commission is appointed by the city's principal officials, can it possibly clear the air with respect to allegations against them? Baltimore's Board of Ethics has five members, four of them appointed by the mayor, three of those confirmed by the Council, and the fifth member appointed by the city solicitor, who is in turn a mayoral appointee.

Local Government Practice December 15, 2008

Co-Opting Subordinates Through Ordering Unethical Conduct

Last week, the Kansas City, MO city council ordered an investigation into possibly unethical conduct by the city's mayor, according to an article in the Kansas City Star. The principal conduct is the use of the mayor's former communications director to work on a political campaign (not the mayor's re-election campaign).

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 30, 2014

COGEL Considers Certification Programs for Government Ethics Practitioners

The Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), an association of American and Canadian practitioners in the areas of conflicts of interest, campaign finance, transparency, elections, and lobbying, is looking into the possibility of offering certification programs in these areas. I assume the courses would be both about the topics and about administering programs in these areas.

Local Government Practice December 8, 2011

COGEL Talk on Legislative Immunity: Same Goals As Government Ethics, and Not Absolute

Below is the text of a talk I gave at the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws conference this week. Due to time limitations, I was not able to share this entire text, so even those who heard the talk may want to read this and see what they missed. For those who have been following my posts on legislative immunity, this talk not only brings together a lot of information, but also adds a section on how much of a misnomer "absolute" legislative immunity is.

Enforcement & Complaints October 7, 2009

Collecting Ethics Commission Fines

What's an ethics commission to do? Even ethics commissions with teeth, that is, with the ability to fine officials, rarely have a way of actually collecting the fines. And if they do have a way of collecting fines, it can make things look unfair.

Conflicts of Interest December 6, 2013

Colleges, Knowledge, Gifts to Officials' Relatives, and Advice Regarding Past Conduct

A recent Miami Herald article describes a case that embodies a number of important government ethics issues, including the conflict issues that involve local schools of higher education, gifts to officials' relatives and the officials' knowledge of them, an ethics program's jurisdiction over these relatives, and whether government attorneys should provide ethics advice about past conduct.

Conflicts of Interest January 29, 2008

Commercial Bail Bond System: Local Corruption and Ends vs. Rules

The most important division in ethics is between ends-based approaches (consequentialist or teleological, best known as "the ends justify the means") and rules-based approaches (deontological). The most important problem for individuals in government is that we are taught rules-based approaches while we’re growing up (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”), but in government most talk is in terms of ends (Will it raise taxes?). Today’s New York Times has a long feature about America’s comm

Ethics Commissions & Administration March 21, 2009

Common Errors Involving Ethics Commission Jurisdiction

I recently wrote about the problem of having a toothless ethics commission in a Connecticut city. According to an article in yesterday's Danbury News-Times, it's good that another Connecticut municipality's ethics commission is toothless.

Local Government Practice February 12, 2009

Competitive Bidding vs. Development Opportunity

Should an option in a light-rail train car manufacturing contract be exercised, rather than going to a competitive bid, because the company says it will move its plant, and 5,000 jobs, into the county?

This dilemma is being faced by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), and the recession and the stimulus package are both involved. So is an accusation of conflict of interest.

Enforcement & Complaints November 27, 2006

Complaints and Investigations

This is the place to raise and discuss issues involving the filing of a complaint regarding an alleged violation of the Code, and the ensuing investigation. Possible issues for discussion include who may file a complaint; whether complaints must be sworn; whether an Ethics Commission may file its own complaints; whether it may file a complaint based on others' allegations, anonymous, or not; whether an Ethics Commission may make a settlement with the respondent; reimbursement of respondents' attorney fees; and how to handle complaints based on false statements.

Conflicts of Interest January 2, 2010

Compliance and Conflicts in Tallahassee: The Organization Interest vs. The Public Interest

Tallahassee takes a compliance approach to ethics. Its ethics code is aspirational, based on core values. Its ethics training employs a Character First approach. Conflicts of interest are only a small portion of a program that ranges from personnel and transparency issues to harassment, discrimination, and fraud.

Conflicts of Interest March 30, 2009

Complicity and Knowledge

Last month, I wrote about the responsibility of lawyers and other professionals for doing something about the deeply unethical conduct of two judges in Pennsylvania who unjustly, and to their own financial benefit, incarcerated hundreds of juveniles.

Conflicts of Interest January 5, 2009

Complicity Provisions: Dealing Responsibly with Conflicts

How do you deal with a department head who helps creates a conflict of interest problem that does not apply to him personally? Few ethics codes contain complicity provisions that deal with this problem. The City Ethics Model Code complicity provision begins: "No one may, directly or indirectly, induce, encourage, or aid anyone to violate any provision of this code...."

Ethics Codes & Reform November 29, 2006

Complicity with or Knowledge of Others' Violations

Complicity with and knowledge of violations are two minefields it is worth crossing. They involve not only dotting the i's, but they also go right to a central element of responsibility: are you responsible for what others do, especially when you are involved or you let it happen. So much of what happens in any organization involves knowingly letting others -- especially subordinates -- do the dirty work. Note that this provision includes outsiders, such as people doing business with the city.

March 5, 2009

Concern About Corruption in Illinois

Politics may be local for politicians, but is it for citizens? The 2009 Joyce Foundation Illinois Survey shows that in January the people of Illinois were more concerned about corruption in government than about the economy. Last January only 49% of those polled were extremely concerned about corruption; now 61% are (and 50% are extremely concerned about the economy, as opposed to 45% the year before).

What changed?

Transparency & Disclosure November 29, 2006

Confidential Information

This is the place to discuss how best to deal with the problem of an official using confidential information for his or her own gain, or disclosing confidential information for others' gain. A principal issue is how to define "confidential information."

100(8).

Transparency & Disclosure September 21, 2010

Confidential Information Provisions, Ethics, and Transparency

In Milwaukee County, according to an article in Sunday's Journal-Sentinel, a county supervisor is seeking to add to the county ethics code a confidential information provision that would not limit the prohibition to what is common in ethics codes: information divulged for someone's benefit.

Conflicts of Interest March 8, 2011

Confidentiality After an Official's Resignation

It is generally agreed that it is best to preserve an ethics commission's jurisdiction over officials and employees after they quit or leave office. There are two reasons for this. One, to prevent them from escaping enforcement by quitting or leaving office. This is especially important because it can take a long time for information to come out that an ethics violation might have occurred, and for an ethics proceeding to be completed. The second reason is to allow for post-employment restrictions.

Transparency & Disclosure September 4, 2009

Confidentiality vs. Transparency in Colorado -- A Court Decision

Government ethics policies sometimes clash. The most common clash involving ethics commissions is with transparency laws.

Conflicts of Interest November 28, 2006

Conflict of Interest

This is the place to discuss what a conflict of interest is, and how close or what type of a relationship an official or employee must have with an individual or entity that has an interest, for that interest to be seen as conflicting with that official or employee's obligations to the public interest. This is also the place to discuss certain conflict provisions missing from this code (such as outside employment), which are discussed in the comments to this subsection.

100(1).