City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

June 23, 2009

A Michigan Law Requiring Local Government Legislators to Vote

In her comment to my blog post on a Michigan recusal matter, Catherine Mullhaupt of the Michigan Townships Association not only pointed out the effect of a women's property rights act on local government conflict of interest law (see my blog post on this), but also pointed out a Michigan law (42.7(…

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 22, 2009

A Model Ethics Advisory Opinion and Links to Major City and State Advisory Opinions

The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) recently issued an advisory opinion (attached, see below) on the subject of conflicts involving city council discretionary funds, a topic I wrote about last year. This is a model advisory opinion, especially in the way it provides a number of sce…

Transparency & Disclosure June 22, 2009

New Lobbying Regulation Report

A report worth reading was recently published by the OECD: Self-Regulation and Regulation of the Lobbying Profession. Its focus on European countries provides a valuable complement to American lobbying regulation. Below is a condensed version of the report's executive summary: "This report examines…

June 20, 2009

Selling Advertising on Local Government Websites

Over the last two days, a new-fangled local government ethics controversy has taken Ohio by storm: allowing counties to sell advertising on their websites. A law to that effect has been inserted in the pending state budget bill, according to an Associated Press article. The rationale is simple: c…

June 20, 2009

Oklahoma Ethics Commission Changes Its Confidentiality Rule

According to an Associated Press article yesterday, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission recommended a rule change that would get rid of the gag rule on people who file ethics complaints. The cause of the rule change is two suits filed against the EC, challenging the gag rule. The suits were filed on fre…

Conflicts of Interest June 19, 2009

Michigan Women's Rights Statute and an Official's Personal Interests

Rarely does someone make a comment to one of my blog posts that brings such a fresh look at a standard conflict of interest issue as the one made recently by Catherine Mullhaupt, Esq., Director of Member Information Services at the Michigan Townships Association. It is important to recognize that t…

Conflicts of Interest June 18, 2009

Dealing Responsibly with Conflicts in College Towns

How does a council deal with conflicts in a company town? My first response to this would be, are there still company towns? Well, certainly not as many as there used to be, but probably most of the ones that remain are college towns. That's the case in Loma Linda, according to an article in yester…

Resources & Learning June 18, 2009

Albert Hirschman on Conflicts Between the Private and the Public

I recently read a fascinating classic study by Albert O. Hirschman (Institute of Advanced Study) called Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action (1982). This book focuses on the various tensions between private consumption and public action. It only touches on government ethics iss…

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 17, 2009

Ethics Commission Community Outreach

Community outreach is usually toward the bottom of a local government ethics commission's priority list. Googling one thing or another, I came across this memo from the executive director of the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, which includes an invitation to members of the press, government, and …

June 16, 2009

Ethics Reform in Seattle

Yesterday, the Seattle City Council passed amendments to the city's ethics code, based on recommendations from the city's ethics commission, according to an article in the West Seattle Herald (highlights of the amendments can be found here). Financial Interests The definition of "financial interest…

Subscribe to