City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

November 13, 2015

Countywide Lobbying Oversight

In some counties, when a company seeks small-business or women- or minority-owned business designation for a county contract, this designation also applies to the municipalities within the county. Why can't the same sort of thing apply to lobbying? Tampa council member Lisa Montelione has asked this question, according to a September Tampa Bay Times article.

Transparency & Disclosure November 10, 2015

San Jose Shows the Importance of Ongoing Lobbying Disclosure

In my chapter on local lobbying, I argue that even quarterly disclosure of lobbying activities is not sufficiently timely and that lobbyists' disclosures should be supplemented by the disclosures of high-level officials.

November 5, 2015

Seattle Public Campaign Financing Initiative Passes

Seattle's public campaign financing Initiative I-122 passed easily on Tuesday. It should prove to be an excellent experiment in campaign finance vouchers, an idea that has been batted about at the federal level, as well.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play October 28, 2015

Austin Lobbying Reform and Opposition to It

Considering that it reflects a typical approach to lobbying, it is valuable to look at the language of a resolution to improve Austin's lobbying oversight program (attached; see below). It is also valuable to consider the opposition to this resolution by a coalition of local architects, engineers, and contractors, according to an article in the Austin Monitor this week.

Conflicts of Interest October 23, 2015

Local Agency Lobbyists Should Register as Lobbyists

Rarely do agencies' own lobbyists get caught by their agency breaking agency rules on communications.

October 22, 2015

Lobbyist Miscellany

Campaign Vendors Lobbying Their Candidates

October 16, 2015

Lobbyist Miscellany

Lobbyist Extortion

October 15, 2015

Fraud and Ethics Enforcement

Criminal enforcement of ethics violations usually involves fraud, and less so honest services fraud (which was essentially misuse of office) now that it has been essentially limited to bribery. And yet ethics enforcement rarely involves fraud, because ethics codes do not have fraud provisions. This is pretty strange, when you think about it: the same misconduct being treated as apples and oranges.

Conflicts of Interest October 9, 2015

Chicago Revolving Door Scheme with Indirect Benefits

A former head of Chicago's public school system has said she will plead guilty to a scheme to take hundreds of thousands of dollars, airfare, meals, and baseball tickets in exchange for steering more than $23 million in no-bid contracts to her former employer, an educational consulting and training company.

Ethics Codes & Reform October 1, 2015

Attempt to Make Gift Bans Unconstitutional in KY

It was only a matter of time before the U.S. Supreme Court's campaign finance opinions (and decisions at the trial and appellate level that have applied them to other situations) would be used to argue that conduct prohibited or limited by government ethics provisions are also protected as free speech by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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