City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 27, 2009

Local Government EC Director Shows How It's Done

According to an article on yesterday's Philly.com website, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics fined its executive director $500 for violating the confidentiality rules of the city's ethics code. The story is instructive in how to handle such difficult matters. (Disclosure: I know and have a lot of re…

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 26, 2009

In Dependence: Ethics Directors, Their Commissions and Politicians

One of the big stories in government ethics this week involves an attempt in Tennessee to consolidate the state ethics and campaign finance commissions, which on its face sounds like a good way to save money during these tough times. But when politicians deal with ethics laws and bodies, things are…

Ethics Codes & Reform May 24, 2009

The Effects of an Inadequate Ethics Code

There are many perils of an inadequate local government ethics code, as can be seen in Colorado Springs, which passed an ethics code in 2007. Last week, I wrote a blog entry about the new ethics commission's first complaint. Even before the ethics commission has met on the complaint, problems have …

May 22, 2009

An Undisciplined Nevada Supreme Court Legislative Immunity Decision

To those who read my recent blog entry, it will come as no surprise that, yesterday, the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the District Court's ruling in the Nevada legislative immunity case (the Order of Affirmation, in searchable form, is attached to this blog entry below). What's most fa…

Conflicts of Interest May 21, 2009

Detroit and the Loyalties of Local Government Attorneys

Loyalty is a virtue that is out of place in government, because loyalty is a personal virtue, a virtue that involves one's own personal interest and that of the person one is loyal to. Loyalty is a particularly difficult issue for local government attorneys, because loyalty is essentially the princ…

Transparency & Disclosure May 18, 2009

Applicant Disclosure, and the Difference It Makes

The two best defenses against dealing responsibly with a conflict are that the local government attorney told me it was okay, and I didn't know there was a conflict. The first can be dealt with by getting the local government attorney out of the government ethics picture. But the second requires so…

May 16, 2009

Ethics Idol

It's not easy to make ethics training enjoyable, so it's good to see how other people have tried. According to an article in Human Resource Executive, Cisco Systems came up with a parody of American Idol, with parody songs about ethics situations and three judges critically discussing each song/sit…

May 15, 2009

An Ethics Complaint to Bring Some Transparency to a Deal

Updates below (latest on August 11, 2009) There's an interesting situation in Colorado Springs. According to an article in yesterday's Colorado Springs Gazette, an ethics complaint filed against the city's weak mayor alleged that the mayor was an investment adviser to a developer involved in a big …

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 14, 2009

Rhode Island Oral Arguments: On Inherent Conflicts in the Ethics Process

Yesterday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court held oral arguments on the appeal of the RI legislative immunity decision. I want to focus on two important issues that arose in the oral arguments, according to an article in the Providence Journal. But first I want to share with you a photo from the Journ…

May 14, 2009

An Ethics Emergency in Corpus Christi?

Update below An ethics emergency was declared in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, according to an article on the KIII TV website. During the final meeting of the council before the council membership changes post-election, the lame-duck council declared an ethics emergency in order to amend the ethics co…

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