City Related
Why Yet Another Big New Jersey Municipal Scandal ?
Robert Wechsler
My first experience with municipal politics in New Jersey, where I lived for nine years before moving to Connecticut, was accompanying some neighbors to a council meeting, because a couple of them wanted to speak about a change in zoning that affected the street we lived on. A neighbor asked the mayor when they could speak, and was told people would be alerted when it came time to speak. The council debated the issue and then, without a pause, started to vote on it. I rose in protest and had to insist, against people saying it was too late, that my neighbors be heard.
Jacksonville Mayor appoints City Ethics' Carla Miller as Ethics Officer
Robert Wechsler
Yesterday in a dramatic speech to the City's Council, Mayor Peyton announced a series of sweeping ethics reforms, foremost of which was his appointment of Carla Miller as the City's Ethics Officer - in his words:
"The establishment of a high-level, in-house ethics officer for the city of Jacksonville. I have asked Carla Miller to take on this important responsibility.
Mayoral Allowances - An Alternative Solution to Preventing Unethical Conduct
Robert Wechsler
Taiwan has come up with the perfect way to prevent mayors from misusing government funds.
Another New Orleans Scandal and the Conflict of Interest Behind It
Robert Wechsler
Today's guilty plea by New Orleans' City Council vice president, Oliver Thomas, is on its face about the acceptance of a bribe. But behind that bribe is a serious conflict of interest.
Not only was Thomas the council vice president and longest-serving council member, but he was also a member of the board of the French Market Corporation, a city agency that owns and manages buildings in the French Quarter.
Ethical Government and Ethical Conduct: A Statistical Study
Robert Wechsler
It's difficult to show clearly that ethical government correlates with ethical conduct. However, last year Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel came up with a study that does this: They studied parking tickets given to United Nations diplomats in Manhattan.
Because, until 2002, there was zero enforcement of parking rules for diplomats, they were given a carte blanche or, if you will, were tempted to act unethically (breaking rules for private gain when enforcement is not a consideration).
Election Officials and Their Conflicts
Robert Wechsler
Election officials. Who in a democracy should be more above suspicion than election officials?
At the place where I vote, the line that is the required number of feet from the voting area is traditionally right along the near side of the sidewalk that runs along the edge of the school parking lot.
The Ethics of Local Government Involvement in Immigration Matters
Robert Wechsler
Immigration is a new issue for municipalities. Or is it?
Last week, a federal judge struck down ordinances passed in Hazleton, PA that would harshly punish undocumented immigrants who tried to live or work there, as well as employers and landlords who provided them homes or jobs. Also last week, New Haven, CT began to hand ID cards out to all citizens, but with the intention of helping undocumented immigrants.
The Accountability of Sharing Our Mistakes
Robert Wechsler
What a nice thing to wake up to: reading in the newspaper that at least some American institutions are using words like 'transparency' and 'accountability' as if they really meant it.
In an article in today's New York Times, we learn that foundations are now publicizing their failures as well as their successes. A consultant to foundations is quoted as saying, 'there's an increasing recognition among foundation leaders that not to be public about failures is essentially indefensible.
The Ethics of Teacher Tenure
Robert Wechsler
In common discussions of municipal ethics, one principal type of municipal employee is rarely mentioned: the teacher. Unless a teacher is, say, a school board member, he or she is rarely in a position to have a conflict of interest. Right?
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
An article on the front page of today's New York Times got me thinking about another possible conflict of interest a teacher might have. The article is about Steve Barr, who runs the Green Dot charter school organization in Los Angeles.
The Public's Trust in Government: A Book Review
Robert Wechsler
Gaining and retaining the public's trust in government is the principal reason given for passing ethics codes. But there is little talk beyond this about the concept of trust.
I just read a book called The Moral Foundations of Trust by Eric M. Uslaner (Cambridge University Press, 2002). This book's focus is on what the author calls 'generalized trust,' that is, the optimistic belief that people are basically trustworthy. However, the author also talks a lot about the other sort of trust, 'strategic trust,' which is a form of trust that requires reciprocity.