City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest June 16, 2014

Risk and Government Ethics

Thinking in terms of risk is a great way not to take responsibility for your actions, including your inactions. As soon as you start thinking about the chances that, overall, you might win or lose from a transaction, you have begun thinking in terms of your personal interest. This makes it very difficult to think in terms of the public interest.

News & Commentary June 12, 2014

The Costs of Corruption

According to an article this week in Governing magazine, a report in Public Administration Review found that "more corrupt states tended to spend money on construction, highways, and police protection programs, which provide more opportunity for corrupt officials to use public money for their own gain.

Conflicts of Interest June 11, 2014

The Problem with Limiting Conflicts to Pecuniary Benefits

Many people believe that conflicts of interest are limited to situations where money is involved. When these people write ethics laws, as they often do, the law effectively says that where money isn't involved, any conduct is acceptable.

Local Government Practice June 10, 2014

An Obligation Not to Be Complicit in Misconduct at Other Governmental Levels

An investigative piece in yesterday's New York Times raises an interesting issue regarding complicity in ethical misconduct: is there an obligation not to be complicit with misconduct at a different governmental level when, arguably, that misconduct financially benefits one's own government?

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 9, 2014

RI Legislature Schemes to Ensure Its Continuing Immunity to Ethics Jurisdiction

Rhode Island's lawmakers really know how to protect themselves. They have fought hard and long to effectively preserve their immunity from state ethics commission jurisdiction. However, with pressure on them to recommend to their constituents a constitutional amendment that would give the EC jurisdiction over them, despite the state's Speech in (sic) Debate Clause, they have planted a bomb in their proposed amendment that will ensure that even the state's good government organizations would oppose it (and that few ordinary citizens would understand what all the fuss was about).

Transparency & Disclosure June 6, 2014

Mayoral Disclosure of Meetings with Lobbyists in New York City

Good news and bad news about lobbying from New York City's new mayor. The good news, according to a recent article on the Capital New York website, is that the mayor has said that his administration will disclose "substantive" meetings that members of his administration conduct with lobbyists. This is, he says, a practice he followed when he was the city's public advocate (a sort of ombuds), before he was elected mayor.

June 5, 2014

Quote of the Day - Admissions in Settlements

"Trials are primarily about the truth. Consent decrees are primarily about pragmatism."

— Second Circuit Court of Appeals in [Link removed] SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Nos. 11-5227-cv, 11-5375-cv and 11-5242-cv (2nd Cir., June 4, 2014).

These words from an important court decision yesterday will most likely be quoted in all sorts of contexts, including with respect to ethics settlements, the consent decrees of government ethics.

Enforcement & Complaints June 5, 2014

Going Beyond Dismissal to Provide Useful Guidance

A week ago, I wrote about a poorly written provision in Denver's ethics code, and the danger it poses not only to Denver, but also elsewhere, since local governments in Colorado and in other states are apt to look at the ethics code of such a large, well-respected city (although now that its highness has two meanings, who knows).

Conflicts of Interest June 3, 2014

The Temptations of Asset Forfeiture

It's been six years since I last wrote about how asset forfeiture is a serious temptation to engage in ethical misconduct. I was planning to write about it again in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the subject, Kaley v.

Transparency & Disclosure June 2, 2014

If Fiduciary Duty Governs Financial Advice, Why Not Ethics Advice and Officials' Disclosure?

One of the great things about discussions of the conflicts of interest of people in the securities world is that "fiduciary duty" is considered the basis for the rules that govern their relationship with government officials and others. In discussions of the conflicts of interest of those whom they deal with in municipal governments and those who provide other sorts of advice or products to municipal governments, "fiduciary duty" often goes unmentioned.

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