May 13, 2009

Jackson County Legislators Abandon Promise to Make Themselves Subject to New Ethics Code

The word from Jackson County (MO) last week was that the county legislature was "close to revising the county’s ethics code to include them under its rules," according to an article in the Kansas City Star, as discussed, very skeptically, in a recent blog entry.

Ethics Codes & Reform May 12, 2009

Truth Is Too Slippery, and Too Precious, A Thing to Enforce

The biggest thing missing from ethics codes is lying. Everyone agrees that a government official or employee who lies lacks integrity, but ethics codes almost never prohibit this.

It isn't that lying is okay, it's just very hard to enforce. Defending a lie leads to more lies and other forms of dishonesty. It can get really ugly.

Conflicts of Interest May 11, 2009

Personal Conflicts and Technicalities

Technicalities should play little role in discussions about local government ethics. But because there are ethics laws, people unashamedly talk about ethics technicalities. They see ethics laws as like any other law, not as minimal requirements that deserve more thinking about what's appropriate than about what's legal.

Conflicts of Interest May 8, 2009

Being Indirect -- A Gift Loophole to Watch Out For

Earlier this week, I wrote about an application of Louisiana ethics law that I felt was too severe. Today I'm going to write about a Louisiana ethics provision, a fairly typical gift provision that applies to local government officials, which is too weak, because it has a big loophole in it.

Ethical Leadership

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 7, 2009

The Importance of Publicizing Ethics Programs

If the governmental ethics community had a publicity program, the headline of a front-page article in Tuesday's Kansas City Star would be a call to arms:

Legislators agree: Ethics laws are puppies, not pit bulls

The gist of the article is that, in Missouri and Kansas, the state ethics commissions are underfunded, the state ethics laws are too weak, and enforcement is insufficient to act as a deterrent.

Conflicts of Interest May 6, 2009

Dealing Responsibly with Business Relationships

In Louisiana, local government officials cannot do any sort of business with anyone who does business with their local government. This position is supported by a settlement reached with an Alexandria council member, according to an article at thetowntalk.com.

Enforcement & Complaints May 6, 2009

Abusing Right to Bring Ethics Complaints

In March, I started out a blog entry by saying that "I thought I might write a piece about using ethics complaints for the purpose of political harassment" with respect to Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. But then I discovered that the particular ethics complaint was legitimate, and talked about the complaint itself and how it applied to local government situations.

May 5, 2009

Is a Jackson County Ethics Compromise For Real?

It appears that Jackson County (MO) legislators will allow the county ethics commission to have jurisdiction over them, after a very ugly series of incidents, including the resignation of the entire ethics commission and the false presentation of the jurisdiction issue at the meeting where the new ethics code was passed, just a couple of months ago.

Resources & Learning May 4, 2009

Patricia Salkin's Local Government Ethics Blogs

For a year and a half, in her Law of the Land blog, Patricia Salkin has been writing about local government ethics issues in land use cases. And since December 2008, she has been writing occasional local government ethics posts for the International Municipal Lawyers Association Local Government Blog.

Ethics Commissions & Administration May 4, 2009

Legislative Immunity: The Courts Are Wrong to Not Distinguish Ethics Enforcement from Prosecution and Civil Suits

One thing that keeps striking me about the recent decisions in the legislative immunity cases relating to government ethics is how little they attempt to distinguish cases outside the ethics field from these cases in the ethics field.

Is government ethics no different from criminal prosecution, no different from civil suits?

Narrowly-Drawn Statutes Such as Ethics Codes

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