City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

September 5, 2009

An Ethics Challenge and a Unusual Approach to Pay-to-Play

Some news in Greensboro, NC led me to a blog post on old news in Greenburgh, NY, so here's the new news and the old news about two cities with nearly the same name. In Greensboro, NC, a council candidate has thrown down a challenge to fill out and post online the state financial disclosure form. It…

Transparency & Disclosure September 4, 2009

Confidentiality vs. Transparency in Colorado -- A Court Decision

Government ethics policies sometimes clash. The most common clash involving ethics commissions is with transparency laws. Like any government body, ethics commissions would prefer not to discuss many sorts of matters in public, both to protect the parties involved and because it is uncomfortable to…

September 4, 2009

Quote of the Day: Everybody Does Not Do It

"I must say regretfully that ... what I have heard is a statement I can only describe as arrogant, unrepentant, and a smear on this institution. Everybody does not do it. Members of this body attempt, by word and deed, publicly and privately, to take great care with their personal conduct as it m…

September 2, 2009

Michigan Disclosure Proposal Doesn't Go Very Far, Locally Speaking

According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, Michigan's Attorney General is seeking stronger financial and gift disclosure requirements for state officials, and he wants these requirements to apply to local officials, as well. But there's a catch: they would only apply to local elected offic…

September 1, 2009

Public Works Misconduct in Tulsa and Montreal

Two former public works employees are in the news this week for misconduct. According to an article in the Tulsa World, a former Tulsa field engineering officer who sat on the Professional Consulting Services Selection Committee pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy, and procu…

September 1, 2009

Extreme Ethics Enforcement in China

Last's week's Economist provides a look at a new form of local government ethics enforcement in China, which exists because local governments have failed to institute ethics programs. That form of enforcement is murder, and it appears to be increasingly accepted by the courts. The article presents …

Local Government Practice August 31, 2009

Council Fiefdoms and Unethical Behavior

If you want to encourage unethical behavior, give individual officials independent power over the sorts of decisions where people have the greatest incentive to tempt officials, and officials are in the best position to enforce pay-to-play. I described a good example of this in a recent blog post a…

Conflicts of Interest August 31, 2009

An Interesting Three-Headed Potential Conflict

Here's an interesting potential conflict. Chicago's Civic Federation, a "non-partisan government research organization working to maximize the quality and cost-effectiveness of government services in the Chicago region and State of Illinois," is asked by the city council to evaluate the city's 2016…

August 29, 2009

Attending: City Council considers the Jacksonville Ethics Office Budget

This morning the Jacksonville City Council finance committee continued their deliberations on each line item of the city's budget. This morning's agenda begins with the Office of General Counsel, which includes the budget for the City's Ethics Officer. Council members Yarborough & Joost comment tha…

August 28, 2009

EC Member Conflicts, Anonymous Complaints, and the Relocation of an Airport

Here's a mind-twister of a situation, from St. Marys City (GA; pop 17,000). According to an article on jacksonville.com, four members of the city council wrote the state attorney general asking for a ruling on whether a fifth council member violated state law by refusing to disqualify himself from …

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