City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Commissions & Administration October 21, 2009

EC Independence and Initiative in Kentucky

Update: November 16, 2009 (see below) On Sunday, the Lexington Herald-Leader took an unflattering look at Kentucky's legislative ethics commission. As in New York State, a central problem appears to be the commission's lack of independence. Two important changes were made to the commission's indepe…

Conflicts of Interest October 20, 2009

Character and Government Ethics

David Brooks' column in the New York Times today is about two views of character, the philosophers' and psychologists' views. He too simply portrays the philosophers' view as involving ingrained character traits, which is sadly how most people seem to view character. I would call this the mythologi…

October 19, 2009

Political Consultants, Lobbyists, Term Limits and Contribution Limits in Missouri

Update: October 21, 2009 (see below) Two interesting issues come out of a long, detailed Kansas City Star article yesterday about Missouri political consultant, and recent house speaker, Ron Jetton. Political Consultants and the Definition of "Lobbyist" One involves the definition of "lobbyist." Mi…

October 18, 2009

Irresponsible Handling of a Possible Conflict by Four Local Government Officials

One problem in government ethics is that when conflict situations are dealt with responsibly, there is rarely a record of them. They pass quietly, failing to end up in the newspaper, at an ethics commission, or in court. So generally we're stuck learning from the times when conflict situations are …

Resources & Learning October 17, 2009

Online Ethics Training and Information Materials

Online Training List Updated May 24, 2013 More and more government ethics information and training materials are available online, so that they can be easily accessed at any time. Everything from FAQs to information sheets to plain-English guides to quizzes to videos. These materials are not only u…

October 16, 2009

An Ethics Reform/Form of Government Spat in Cuyahoga County

In your county, a major corruption investigation is being conducted by the FBI. Already, nearly twenty county employees, city building inspectors, and businessmen have pleaded guilty (see an earlier blog post on the investigation). Others are holding out. What do you do? The usual answer is to crea…

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play October 15, 2009

Leaving Unions Out of Pay-to-Play Laws

Update: February 2, 2010 (see below) A recent New York Times article concerns a potential conflict in the city council speaker's office. But what is most interesting about the article is the bigger question it raises about differentiating between businesses and unions in pay-to-play laws. The head …

October 14, 2009

Another Local Government Official's Charity Mess. And Why Golf?

Once again, a local government official's attempt to use a charity to get around campaign finance laws has blown up in his face. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, an Atlanta council member was fined $25,000 by a state court for failing to register a foundation (named afte…

October 13, 2009

The Supreme Court Is to Consider How Honest Services Fraud Jives with Ethics Laws

Update: October 16, 2009 (see below) In his New York Times legal affairs column today, Adam Liptak focused on what is known as "honest services fraud," which is actually part of a definition of "scheme or artifice to defraud" in the federal mail and wire fraud statute (before reading on, please rea…

Conflicts of Interest October 13, 2009

A County Attorney's Legal Advice About the Procedure for Her Own Raise

Here's an ugly little case study, based on an ethics complaint filed in September in Hillborough County, the county which includes Tampa. According to the complaint (attached; see below), the county administrator wanted to give herself and the county attorney a 1% salary increase. Salary increases …

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