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Enforcement & Complaints July 14, 2014

Should Legislator-Lobbyist Communications Be Subject to the Legislative Immunity Privilege?

The Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution protects activities within the "legislative sphere" from being heard outside the legislature, and prevents the introduction of evidence of legislative activity in any such hearing. A recent brief from the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee in S.…
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July 7, 2014

Garbage Ethics Reform in Chicago Sets an Example

Garbage is the principal regular point of contact between individuals and their local government. If people are happy with their garbage pickup, they are likely to be happy with their local government. For this reason, smart high-level local government officials make sure that garbage pickup is don…
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Conflicts of Interest July 2, 2014

Can an Assistant County Attorney Sit on the Council of a City in the County?

According to an article last week in the Washington Post, the Fairfax County (VA) Attorney fired one of his office's assistant attorneys because she was elected to the council of a city within the county, even though he and his deputy who deals with personnel matters had given her permission to run…
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Conflicts of Interest July 1, 2014

SEC Action re Fiduciary Duties Relating to Municipal Bonds

A recent action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the city of Harvey, IL, a poor city of 30,000 just south of Chicago, deals with a different sort of fiduciary duty than the usual government ethics case. In a complaint dated June 24, 2014 (attached; see below), the SEC alleges…
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June 25, 2014

Patronage in Illinois, or Shakman Is Dead, Long Live Shakman

It's the end of an era. Last week, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, a federal magistrate declared that Chicago was released from the 1972 Shakman consent decree, which was supposed to end patronage (for a long time, however, patronage went underground; see my 2006 blog post on this).…
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Ethics Codes & Reform June 23, 2014

Ethics Commissions Need to Look at the Reasons Behind Gift Rules

The Washington state Legislative Ethics Board has been discussing how many meals a state legislator should be able to accept from lobbyists and lobbyist-employers under the "infrequent" meals exception in the state ethics code. The exception allows legislators to accept food and beverage when their…
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Ethics Codes & Reform June 20, 2014

Why Government Ethics Programs Have Limited Subject Matter Jurisdiction

An individual who was asking me government ethics questions recently became angry when I said that codes of conduct that go beyond conflicts of interest are outside of my field. He said that those who engage in bad conduct will probably also engage in bad ethics. He referred to my exclusive focus o…
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June 19, 2014

Quote of the Day - Soft Money

Old soft money was associated with access, like a wad of cash that you’d slip to a nightclub bouncer to get in the door. The new soft money is more like a bulge in one’s jacket pocket, an implied threat against those who refuse to comply. —Dan Tokaji and Renata Strause in an Election Law Blog post …
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June 18, 2014

The People's Pledge in Mayoral Races

In 2012, Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown signed a People's Pledge in their U.S. senatorial race in Massachusetts. The candidates agreed to donate to a charity of the other candidate's choice a sum equal to 50% of any advertisement run by any outside group or PAC. The goal was to let the candidates…
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Conflicts of Interest June 16, 2014

Risk and Government Ethics

Thinking in terms of risk is a great way not to take responsibility for your actions, including your inactions. As soon as you start thinking about the chances that, overall, you might win or lose from a transaction, you have begun thinking in terms of your personal interest. This makes it very dif…
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