City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

February 8, 2010

The Escalation of the Ethics War in San Diego

The ethics war in San Diego is heating up. It has escalated from elected officials pointing out problems they have with the city's ethics commission to the future existence of the EC. The latest battle presents an excellent window into the mindset of those who oppose government ethics, especially, in this case, the enforcement of campaign finance rules.

February 6, 2010

A Columnist Gets Government Ethics, A Former Mayor Doesn't

(Update: March 1, 2010: Also see this excellent Times-Union editorial on the importance of an independent ethics commission that has authority over independent authorities. A particularly valuable observation: "The city Ethics Commission needs the ability to obtain independent legal advice. The city General Counsel's Office advises the mayor, City Council and the Ethics Commission.

Local Government Practice February 5, 2010

The Perfect Justification for Unethical Conduct

Almost three years ago, I wrote a blog post about the scandal that rocked my town, North Haven, CT. Since then, one of the two arrested department heads, the finance director, was given accelerated rehabilitation (lenient probation) because he turned state's evidence. The other department head, and his wife, who was his assistant, spent years delaying trial, and then also asked for accelerated rehabilitation. They had been charged with embezzlement, larceny, forgery, and conspiracy.

Local Government Practice February 5, 2010

Novel Approaches to Local Government Corruption in India and China

India and China have not only been the home of new varieties of entrepreneurialism. In these countries, creative individuals have also come up with novel approaches to dealing with local government corruption.

An expatriate Indian physics professor in the U.S. came up with the brilliant idea of a Zero-Rupee Note to hand out in situations where local officials expect or ask for bribes.

February 4, 2010

Florida EC Chair Calls for Some Wheels

Cheryl Forchilli, chair of the Florida Commission on Ethics (which deals with local government ethics), wrote a must-read op-ed piece that appeared on the Florida Thinks blog yesterday.

Forchilli's piece begins with a nice simile:

Resources & Learning February 4, 2010

The Legitimacy of Power and the Sense of Entitlement

It is a truism of government ethics that a sense of entitlement is an important cause of unethical conduct. People who feel entitled to the power they wield feel they have the right to deviate from ethical norms in ways others do not (see my blog post on this topic). Now there is research that supports this view.

February 3, 2010

One Chicago Alderman Goes to Prison, The Rest Claim Legislative Immunity

Never a dull moment in Chicago. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, a now-former alderman has pleaded guilty to bribery and tax fraud charges relating to $40,000 in work done on his home by a developer whose development he backed. This makes him the 29th Chicago alderman to be convicted over the last four decades (including his father, on a similar charge).

February 3, 2010

An IG-Compliance Battle in Chicago

Update: February 19, 2010 (see below)

This blog post is about Chicago, and things are more complicated in Chicago than in other American municipalities. So please read slowly and carefully.

Ethics Commissions & Administration February 2, 2010

EC Members and the Law-Ethics Distinction

Should ethics commission members follow ethics laws to the letter, and no further, or should they provide leadership and a role model by going beyond legalism and instead acting ethically? State EC members in New York and Georgia are telling the world by their actions and their words that only the letter of the law matters in government ethics.

Local Government Practice February 2, 2010

Caring About Process

When the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives says, "the American people don’t care about process" in a news conference (the context was the process surrounding the health care bill), this topic, which is central not only to government ethics, but to our legal and political system, is worth focusing on.

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