City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest April 14, 2010

A Primer for Government Lawyers Faced with Officials' Conflicts

Today I came across the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington (State) website. MRSC is "private, non-profit organization based in Seattle," whose mission is "to promote excellence in Washington local government through professional consultation, research and information services." Si…

April 14, 2010

A Legislative IG for Chicago?

Back in Chicago, where in February the mayor called for the inspector general (appointed by the mayor) to have jurisdiction over the city council (see my blog post), the council is now moving toward a council-wide vote on its own inspector general. In my blog post, I suggested that one IG be appoin…

Conflicts of Interest April 13, 2010

Preferential Treatment and Zoning Enforcement

What do you do when an official discriminates against you by sicking a local government inspector on you? This question was raised by David Owens in a post on the NC Local Government Law Blog. Owens' answer is that (at least in North Carolina), unless you can show evidence of a pattern of conscious…

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 13, 2010

Moral Clarity VI - Independent Ethics Enforcement

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). The impersonality of the categorical imperative, which I discussed in my last blog post, is paralleled in the independence of government ethics enforc…

Resources & Learning April 12, 2010

Moral Clarity V - The Categorical Imperative and Exceptionalism

In my first blog post relating to Susan Neiman’s book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008), I referred to Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative.” It’s time to say a little more about it. Essentially, this is it: “When you act morally, you act according to a principle th…

Ethics Codes & Reform April 12, 2010

Government Ethics As a Double-Edged Sword

In the hands of politicians, government ethics can be wielded as a double-edged sword, as can be seen in recent events in Mandeville (LA), a city of 12,000 just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. According to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, in October 2009 the city's mayor pl…

Resources & Learning April 8, 2010

Moral Clarity IV - Self-Interest

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman's book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). One problem Americans have with respect to government ethics is that one of our society’s principle ideologies is that everyone seeking his or her se…

Conflicts of Interest April 8, 2010

Some Problems Relating to Local Governments Accepting Gifts

Local governments accepting gifts from those who do business with them — contractors, developers, and the like — can cause some serious problems, even when they have to be approved by neutral bodies. This can be seen by what has happened in Middletown, CT, a small city not far from where I live. Ac…

Resources & Learning April 7, 2010

Moral Clarity III - Ethics Environments

This is the third in a series of blog posts inspired by reading Susan Neiman's book Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists (Princeton, 2008). One of her topics is how an individual’s organizational environment can greatly affect his or her conduct. Her goal is not to excuse misconduct, but t…

Ethics Codes & Reform April 7, 2010

What's Wrong with This Picture?

The mayor of a city of 46,000 people announces that the city would change its policy requiring annexation to obtain water and sewer service, and then negotiates an agreement with a developer to provide him with utilities. In the middle of the negotiations, the developer gives the mayor's campaign a…

Subscribe to