Enforcement & Complaints July 8, 2009

Distorting the Government Ethics Process

Gov. Sarah Palin's national fame has brought government ethics complaints to the attention of people who had never paid any attention to them. And the result has, in general, been one of distortion rather than education. The latest news has especially distorted the nation's view of government ethics: the argument that defending against frivolous ethics complaints was too costly in dollars and time, and therefore damaging to the state and the people of Alaska, so damaging that the governor resigned her position.
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July 6, 2009

A Miscellany

Ethics Reform Usually Means Ethics Changes
While most people in Massachusetts are cheering on the ethics reform package that was just passed, at least one state representative has focused on the compromises and limitations of the package, calling it a first step. Most responses to scandals are partial rather than changing the entire environment, and in her excellent guest column Rep. Jennifer Callahan points out the problems with this.
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Conflicts of Interest July 6, 2009

Wearing Two Hats in a Community Nonprofit Transaction

It is common for mayors and council members to take volunteer positions on the boards of community nonprofits. Sometimes it's primarily honorific, but sometimes it shows a special commitment to a particular program or project, and sometimes it involves a leadership position. Such a position can create real or apparent conflicts of interest.
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July 1, 2009

Quote of the Day

I don’t care what state you are talking about, you are always going to have one or two people who are going to do the wrong thing. That’s human life. But the bottom line is: I can tell you that my members who are in the House of Representatives are here for the right reason, and I am just a little cautious to make a regulation for one person.
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June 30, 2009

RI Supreme Court Prefers Speech in Debate Clause to Constitutional Authority of Ethics Commission Over Legislators

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has reached a decision on the legislative immunity case (Irons v. RI Ethics Commission) involving the state ethics commission and the state legislature. As expected, its majority opinion (it was a 3-1 split) concluded that the state's Speech in Debate Clause 100% overrides the 1986 constitutional amendment that granted the state ethics commission full authority over state legislators.
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June 26, 2009

An Arrogant Response to an Ethics Report

It's not easy to publicize ethical and unethical activity in a responsible manner. And when this is done, it can sometimes lead to false attacks on the the legitimacy of the organization doing the publicizing. This is what happened this week in Colorado.
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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 scenarios to which it applies the city's relevant ethics provisions. The opinion goes beyond any single request for advice to provide advice for as great a range of possible situations as the staff could imagine.
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