City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

December 16, 2009

Palm Beach County Ethics Program Has Passed

After many months of deliberation (and a blog post), yesterday the Palm Beach Board of County Commissioners passed three ordinances, establishing a new ethics and lobbying code, ethics commission, and inspector general. The most interesting thing about this response to numerous political scandals i…

Ethics Codes & Reform December 15, 2009

Revolving Door Provisions and Free Speech Rights

In August, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted a former state representative a temporary restraining order with respect to a state revolving door provision that prohibits state representatives from representing anyone other than a state political subdivision before the…

Transparency & Disclosure December 15, 2009

Jersey City Ethics Audit re Development Process

This summer, several New Jersey local government officials were arrested in a big FBI sting operation (see my blog post). Yesterday, an ethics audit focused on development practices was released. Requested by the Jersey City council, it was written by three members of a New Jersey law firm. Accordi…

Ethics Codes & Reform December 14, 2009

Ethics Reform Aimed at Political Opponents

Ethics reform aimed at political opponents is a good way to undermine the whole idea of ethics reform. This is what is happening in San Jose. San Jose starts off with an odd ethics program. Title 12: Ethics Provisions does not even have a conflict of interest provision, nor does the city have an et…

Ethics Commissions & Administration December 12, 2009

San Diego: More Tension Between EC and Council

The relationship between San Diego's council and ethics commission continues to prove unhealthy. It shows how wrong it is for elected officials to appoint and control the body that oversees their conduct. According to an article in today's Union-Tribune, a long-term EC investigation has led to an a…

December 11, 2009

On Location: COGEL Meets in the Midst of Serious Unethical Behavior

COGEL (Council on Governmental Ethics Laws) annual conferences are often held at a time and place where there are serious government ethics issues. Last year, the conference was held in Chicago the day Gov. Blagojevich was arrested. This year, the conference was held in Maricopa County, AZ, where f…

December 11, 2009

Ethics Reform Task Force Report Released in Philadelphia

Yesterday, Philadelphia's Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform released a 58-page report (plus ethics laws) requested by the city's mayor and council president in 2008. The report recommends a large number of reforms, most of them stricter than what exists, some of them less strict and …

Conflicts of Interest December 10, 2009

Two Perspectives on Gift-Giving

I'm back from the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) conference, and I will be sharing some valuable information from the talks and panels I attended. In a panel on gifts provisions in ethics codes, the panel consisted not only of the usual government ethics professionals, but also a lawye…

December 7, 2009

An upcoming Supreme Court appeal holds interest for government ethics

Today's NY Times has an interesting article on the "honest-services fraud" statute: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07honest.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=joun%20schwartz&st=cse (URL may require subscription) [Quote]: It has become an important tool for federal prosecutors, who used it successfully again…

December 5, 2009

The Self-Serving Nature of Cook County Township Governments

It's been a year since the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), the association of state and local government ethics professionals, met in Cook County, IL. But the day before COGEL meets in Scottdale, AZ, it's time to take another look at one of America's most unethical counties, which incl…

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