City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Codes & Reform March 16, 2010

The Principal Goal of Government Ethics

I think it's important to remind ourselves about the alternative government and economic system that exists in much of the world (and partially in islands throughout the U.S.) and which government ethics programs are intended to protect us from. That system was described succinctly in an Economist …

March 16, 2010

Two Pleasant Surprises

The Partisanship of Ethics The first pleasant surprise involves a blogger (Advance Indiana) who is disgusted with his own party's unethical conduct in his city/county, Indianapolis/Marion County. A native of Illinois, he compares it to Chicago, and he notes that his party took office because of the…

March 14, 2010

Louisville's Middling Ethics Reforms

Philadelphia, Baltimore, and now Louisville have come up with ethics reforms in the past week or so. Baltimore's reforms were disappointing, while Philadelphia's were a big surprise to everyone, and came with a few serious question marks. Louisville's reforms are hardly a surprise, and they stand s…

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play March 13, 2010

An Excellent Description of an Unethical Environment, and a Proposed Pay-to-Play Rule That Is Relevant Locally

One of the best descriptions of an unethical environment in a government agency can be found in the two-page statement that followed the guilty plea of David Loglisci, the former chief investment officer for the New York state pension fund. At the center of the unethical environment was a man with …

March 12, 2010

The Costs of No Ethics Reform in San Bernardino County (CA)

It's been four months since my latest update on San Bernardino County's failure to follow grand jury ethics reform recommendations with any action. An op-ed piece by Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, in this week's San Bernardino Sun calls for campaign contribution limits…

Local Government Practice March 11, 2010

Holding Local Government Associations Accountable

Unions are paid for by union members, business associations are paid for by businesses, but local government associations are paid for by taxpayers, not by local governments. And yet while unions represent members, and business associations represent businesses, local government associations repres…

Conflicts of Interest March 10, 2010

Voiding Contracts, Transactions, and Permits Where There Is an Ethics Violation

In my previous blog post, the issue arose of voiding a planning and zoning commission's approval of a permit because one of the commission members had a conflict of interest. Connecticut law automatically invalidates the commission action, without any individual or body having to act. But this is u…

Conflicts of Interest March 10, 2010

Indirect Interests and Freedom of Speech

An unpublished Connecticut Superior Court opinion takes an odd approach to a conflict of interest charge against a member of a zoning commission in the small town of Pomfret (pop. 4,000). Not only is it odd, but it could very well be unconstitutional, as it partly bases its decision on whether indi…

Transparency & Disclosure March 9, 2010

When Transparency Gets Sneaky

When a major newspaper's editorial on a city council's handling of an important ethics issue begins with "Sneaky. Real sneaky." it's something worth sharing with those interested in local government ethics. The newspaper is the Jacksonville Times-Union, and the editorial on a new bill to take the c…

March 9, 2010

Not Much to Get Excited About in Baltimore's Ethics Reforms

Update: The bills discussed below passed the council on March 22. Just down the road from Philadelphia, Baltimore too is considering ethics reforms, but it's in response to a scandal involving its past mayor rather than in response to the work of a task force. There are two bills before the Baltimo…

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