City Related

According to an article in yesterday's Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore County Council narrowly failed in its attempt to change the county charter to allow council members to work for the state of Maryland. Five of seven council members voted for the charter amendment (the charter currently forbids this), including one who "inadvertently" worked for the state for five months in 2003.

According to an article in today's Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle, the Denton (pop. 106,000) council voted 4-2, with the mayor recusing himself, to give the city's tax collection contract to the mayor's law firm (he is one of two partners in the four-lawyer firm).

Back in May, I wrote about the conflict of interest problems in upstate New York local governments due to the development of wind farms in the area. This week, New York's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, issued a Wind Industry Ethics Code to deal with these problems. Hats off to Cuomo for the idea, although not for the execution.

Back in June, I did a blog entry on the implications for local governments of a Louisiana decision that applied the Speech and Debate Clause to ethics investigations and decisions, effectively preventing state ethics commissions from investigating or enforcing ethics laws against state legislators, even if they voted for the ethics provision involved.

Here's an election story with a conflict of interest angle. In Crescent City, California (pop. 7,500) on the beautiful California coast up near the Oregon border, the little city's former finance director is running for clerk.

According to an article in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune this week, the lame-duck mayor of Northfield, MN, home of Carleton and St.

The federal government's trust deficit today is in worse shape than our federal budget and current account deficits. Government leaders better jump on the government ethics bandwagon quick, or there could be a serious trust crisis. Here's the latest new from the Harris Polls:

The big news this week on the government ethics front is Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens' conviction on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms, regarding home renovations paid for by an oil executive.

Long Island (NY) Railroad (LIRR) retirees are many times more likely to be on disability than other rail workers, and the New York Times has been focusing on this story (click here for a page of articles and information).

"As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it? --William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, 1871

see update below

Another of Boss Tweed's famous quotations is, "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." His and other city bosses' way of controlling politics through parties led to the reform movements of the progressive era, first to the idea of a strong mayor, and then to the idea of nonpartisan town managers.