County Related

What do you do when an ethics commission is moribund? Sadly, few people know and few people care. That is the norm. Rarely does an official complain publicly, "I have no one to give me good ethics advice." She just goes to the city or county attorney, or makes the decision herself. Rarely does anyone complain that there is no ethics training or nowhere to file an ethics complaint. And certainly no official complains that he doesn't have to file a financial disclosure form anymore.

Update: August 9, 2010 (see below)

You've got to hand it to them:  Broward County (FL) commissioners don't give up. Some of them have fought and fought against the prospect of having a new ethics code, written by the county ethics commission. August 10 is the deadline by which they must either approve the new ethics code, or it will appear on the November ballot.

Updates: August 4 and 9, 2010 (see below)
I was just saying to someone the other day that the worst offenses in local government ethics do not involve money. The worst offenses in local government ethics involve intimidation, which causes people to lose their peace of mind, their reputations, and the feeling that they may participate in their local government, things no amount of money can buy. And yet it is the rare ethics complaint or arrest that primarily involves intimidation. Well, this just happened yesterday, in Palm Beach County.

A failure to deal responsibly with one's conflicts of interest has ramifications beyond the loss of public trust, and all the serious problems that arise from this loss. This failure can also lead to litigation and the overturning of actions by local government officials.

Note: I completely rewrote this post after Mark Davies set me straight about the state law on which disclosure forms an official must file.

How many wrongs does it take to make a right?

What do the BP oil spill and local government ethics have in common? Kenneth Feinberg.

Update: June 18, 2010 (see below)

According to an article in yesterday's Chicago Daily Observer, Cook County commissioner Tony Peraica has proposed a series of improvements to the ethics code.