City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Codes & Reform October 29, 2009

New Michigan Model Local Government Ethics Ordinance Is a Lemon

This week, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced a "toolbox" for local governments to create local ethics policies. Local government ethics is already governed by state statutes, but local governments can apparently supplement these rules with local laws and ethics boards. The toolbox consis…

October 29, 2009

Two Case Studies

Here are two interesting local government ethics case studies from matters in the news this week. A Job Can Effectively Be a Gift According to an article in the Spokesman-Review, a Spokane council member requested an advisory opinion from the city's ethics committee after his successful push to cha…

Local Government Practice October 28, 2009

Local Government Legal Defense Funds

I've talked about legal defense funds in the past as a way to accept large gifts from those doing business with a local government, but I referred, tangentially, to only one local government legal defense fund, that of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. So I did some research and came up with a…

Conflicts of Interest October 26, 2009

Conflicts Arising from the Desire to Succeed and to Be Right

Can grades be evidence of a conflict of interest? This is what the Cook County prosecutor's office is effectively arguing, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. Northwestern University journalism students spent three years researching a criminal case, in which they believe that a man was …

Conflicts of Interest October 26, 2009

Firewalls and Indirect Financial Interests

Updates: November 28, 2009 (see below, with December 23 correction) When a local government official co-owns a company, is it enough to create a separate company owned solely by another co-owner to do business with the official's city? According to an article in the Baton Rouge Advocate, this has b…

Transparency & Disclosure October 24, 2009

A Gift Disclosure Loophole for Texas Local Government Officials

An article on the Texas Watchdog website focuses on a serious loophole in the Texas gift disclosure policy, which applies to local government officials. Section 176.003(a-1) of the Local Government Code (Title 5, Subchapter C) states: A local government officer is not required to file a conflicts d…

Transparency & Disclosure October 24, 2009

A Very Short Rant on Financial Disclosure and Ethics Self-Regulation

It's always nice to see politicians provide evidence for the argument that ethics self-regulation doesn't work, but it's rare for it to happen in so public a way as occurred yesterday. According to an article in Roll Call, Rep. John Carter (R-TX), "the point man for Republicans seeking to strip Way…

October 23, 2009

Political Deal-Making, Election Time Complaints, and Overinclusive Language in Milton, GA

Is political deal-making a government ethics violation? This is a tough area. Government ethics is about the conflict of personal and public interests. Political interests are generally left out of the equation unless non-political benefits are involved. In politics, you are allowed to put your per…

October 22, 2009

Two More HUD/City Loan Conflict Cases

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post about how several government officials in Wausau mishandled a conflict situation involving the purchase of property fixed up with an interest-free loan from HUD. Yesterday's The State of South Carolina covers two other HUD loan conflict situations in Columbia, w…

October 21, 2009

Illinois Ethics Reform Poll and Blagojevich News

Blago watchers will be interested in the news in today's Chicago Tribune about his former chief of staff and campaign manager pleading guilty and providing detailed testimony about the schemes of Blagojevich and three of his friends to make money off Blago's position, "such as through operating bus…

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