City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest December 31, 2013

Ethics Waivers by a Legislative Body

I am a proponent of ethics waivers. But only if they are provided by an independent ethics commission. When they are provided by high-level officials or their appointees, they appear to be self-serving. Why self-serving? Because they create precedents that will enable those who make the precedents to themselves get ethics waivers.

December 30, 2013

A Look at 2013

2013 was not a particularly good year for government ethics. This blog started out by noting how little Tennessee's model code had done for its municipalities' ethics programs. Early-year hopes for improvement of New Jersey's terrible state local government ethics program were dashed by the program's October request to renew its rules without any changes whatsoever.

Ethics Reform

Ethics Codes & Reform December 18, 2013

Best Practices, The Criminalization of Ethics, and Illness As a Conflict Situation

According to an article in the Capital Gazette, a former Anne Arundel County (MD) county executive, who was convicted early this year of a misdemeanor for misconduct in office, wants to run for office again, despite the judge ordering, as part of the criminal penalty, that he not be permitted to run for office for five years.

December 17, 2013

NJ's Ineffective Local Government Ethics Program Is Up for Renewal

In 2008, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine established a special task force to take a look at the state's local government ethics program. In September 2010, the task force filed a report that recommended substantial changes to the program (attached; see below). Nothing was done.

Resources & Learning December 16, 2013

Winter Reading: Lawyers As (Ethics) Leaders

In a blog post last week, I listed the many reasons why city and county attorneys should not be providing ethics advice. One of those reasons was that "legal advice and ethics advice require different skill sets." But I limited this part of my analysis to saying that "A legal adviser sticks to the letter of the law, and is always on the lookout for loopholes that her client can take advantage of."

December 14, 2013

A Restricted Source Involved in a Preferential Arrest and a Questionable Third-Party Candidacy

Sometimes, conflict of interest matters come disguised as election law matters. Most of the time, due to secrecy, laziness, or an inability to draw lines between the dots, no one recognizes the conflict of interest matter. But sometimes, someone gives the game away, and it becomes clear how inextricable the two areas can be.

Ethics Commissions & Administration December 13, 2013

Crowdfunding a Local Government Ethics Program

Crowdfunding is a 21st-century way of funding projects that are not being funded by the government, the stock market, venture capitalists, or even angel investors. But it's really not as 21st-century as people think. For example, the Statue of Liberty's pedestal was crowdfunded back in 1885 (without the Internet, the crowdfunding was led by Joseph Pulitzer, the publisher of New York World newspaper).

Ethics Commissions & Administration December 10, 2013

The Many Reasons Why a City or County Attorney Should Not Provide Ethics Advice

A month ago, I wrote about some problems Honolulu's ethics program was having with the corporation counsel. The problems have continued. The big issue this last week has been the corporation counsel's provision of ethics advice. So far, the argument has primarily taken place in the form of memos.

Local Government Practice December 9, 2013

Nudging and Government Ethics

I've been writing a lot about government ethics and behavioral psychology over the last few years. I consider some of the findings of behavioral psychology, especially about blind spots, essential to understanding what leads to ethical misconduct and, therefore, essential to ethics training, ethics advice, and ethics enforcement. But behavioral psychology has not yet been embraced by American government ethics programs, at least as far as I have seen.

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.

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