It seriously undermines the public's understanding of government ethics when highly visible decisions misrepresent basic government ethics concepts. This occurred yesterday, when the Alaska State Personnel Board found that Governor Sarah Palin did not violate the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act …

A three-year FBI investigation of Cuyahoga County (which includes Cleveland) appears to have begun with a sting operation involving building inspectors, where an undercover agent offered bribes, and they were accepted, according to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Six building inspectors w…

Vernon, the "Dream Machine" I've written about in two previous blog posts (1 and 2), is back in the news. This time, according to an article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times, it appears that there is a crack in the self-serving power structure that allowed a grandfather and grandson to run this pur…

Ottawa is currently in the grips of its mayor's influence-peddling trial. The allegations are that the mayor tried to get another mayoral candidate out of the race by offering him money and a federal position. The Ottawa Citizen has an excellent chronology of what allegedly occurred. There is a lot…

There is a bright side to the British Parliament expenses scandal. For one thing, many M.P.'s had the fortitude to walk right by that enormous parliamentary trough and eat at home instead. Second, Parliament showed the world how a failure to do the right thing and do it transparently — seek larger …