Conflicts of Interest February 24, 2010

Cronyism and Ethics

This month, in Portland, CT, home of the stone used to build New York City's brownstones, the new ethics commission found that it was a violation of the town's ethics code for the board of selectmen (the town's management board) to hire attorneys who had given campaign contributions to the board of…
Read more →
Transparency & Disclosure February 21, 2010

Another Side to Disclosure

Disclosure is almost always about what the public should know. But there is another side to disclosure: what the official should know. This is especially important in pay-to-play. The idea for this blog post came from Randy Cohen's Ethicist column in today's New York Times. The context there is cor…
Read more →
February 20, 2010

A Conflict of Interest Exam Question from Long Branch, NJ

Especially in small towns, bankers often have business relationships with many people and, therefore, do not make the best board and commission members on account of the many conflicts they have or, more frequently, the appearance of impropriety. According to an article this week in the Asbury Park…
Read more →
February 19, 2010

Quote of the Day

(In a debate about a revolving door provision, also known as a "cooling off period") "You do not take pizza from the oven and put it straight in your mouth. I believe that we should not take our legislative service and put it right in our own mouth." —Missouri State Senator Jason Crowell (from an a…
Read more →
February 19, 2010

New Poll Results on Corporate and Union Independent Expenditures

It's worth noting two Washington Post-ABC News poll questions concerning the Citizens United decision on corporate-funded independent expenditures. Most notable is the fact that the reaction was roughly the same across the political spectrum. The ruling was opposed by 85% of Democrats polled, 76% o…
Read more →
February 18, 2010

Revolving Door or Merry-Go-Round?

Your big brother is a powerful member of city council, and you're just a deputy city clerk. There's got to be more than this! So you retire, take your pension of $68,000, and run for state representative, with all the support your brother and his friends can provide, adding another $86,000 in salar…
Read more →
February 17, 2010

An Important Local Campaign Finance Decision in San Diego

It's only been six weeks since I wrote about a campaign finance suit in San Diego, filed by the Republican Party of San Diego County, a former City Council candidate, a pro-business group, a union PAC, and a pollster. Yesterday the federal district court handed down an important split decision on t…
Read more →
Subscribe to