County Related

The word from Jackson County (MO) last week was that the county legislature was "close to revising the county’s ethics code to include them under its rules," according to an article in the Kansas City Star, as discussed, very skeptically, in a recent blog entry.

It appears that Jackson County (MO) legislators will allow the county ethics commission to have jurisdiction over them, after a very ugly series of incidents, including the resignation of the entire ethics commission and the false presentation of the jurisdiction issue at the meeting where the new ethics code was passed, just a couple of months ago.

Broward County (FL), home of Ft. Lauderdale, is working on ethics reform, something Ft. Lauderdale itself did in 2007. Today, according to a piece on the Sun-Sentinel Broward Politics website, a county commissioner will be introducing a bill to prevent county commissioners from soliciting contributions for third parties, whether charities or other candidates, from those doing business with the county.

Updates below
According to an article in yesterday's Press-Enterprise, San Bernardino County (CA) looks like it might soon have an ethics commission. After numerous scandals, two of five members of the county's board of supervisors are convinced of the need for an independent ethics panel with teeth.

But how independent?

The Council on Governmental Ethics Laws has great instincts for meeting where the ethics problems are greatest. Last year it met in Chicago. This year it will be Maricopa County, AZ (the Phoenix area).

See update below

Last month, I wrote about the responsibility of lawyers and other professionals for doing something about the deeply unethical conduct of two judges in Pennsylvania who unjustly, and to their own financial benefit, incarcerated hundreds of juveniles.

Last October, I wrote a blog entry about why parties should fight elections, not referee them. An indictment this month in Kentucky emphasizes the need for the election process to be taken out of the hands of those contending for the results of that process.

Every time I check up on Jackson County, MO, I find something more that's shameful, if that word can be used anymore. This time a blog sent me to a You Tube video of the county legislature passing the new ethics ordinance, which I discussed in a blog entry earlier this week.

Two months ago, I wrote a blog entry about the en masse resignation of the Jackson County (MO) ethics commission, and said that this was a sign that things were seriously wrong in that county. Little did I know.