City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Codes & Reform April 20, 2009

Covering Political Party Officers

Who is covered by an ethics code can be very important. In Baltimore, for instance, as I wrote in a recent blog entry, the city solicitor has interpreted the ethics code to require disclosure of gifts only from companies doing business with the city, not from their owners, officers, or employees.

I also wrote recently about jurisdiction over contractors paid with local government funds, but not directly by the local government.

April 18, 2009

Congress Teaches Civics Course in Ethics Self-Regulation

Government officials should, I think, focus more on what their actions teach Americans. In effect, each of them is teaching an ongoing civics course.

For many years, Congress have been giving us a course on how self-regulation in the ethics sphere simply doesn't work.

Enforcement & Complaints April 17, 2009

Legislative Immunity Goes Local: The Defense Was Just Used in an Ethics Matter in Baltimore

It had to happen soon: a legislative immunity defense has been used in a local government ethics matter, albeit in a city where violations are criminally prosecuted. I happened upon it in my research on my last blog entry, about the Baltimore mayor's defenses of her taking gifts from a city developer when she was president of the city council.

Transparency & Disclosure April 17, 2009

Disclosure of Gifts -- Really Just from Companies?

Update below:
The controversy in Baltimore over the mayor's acceptance of gifts from a developer whose companies have received a great deal of funding from the city appears now to be focused on whether or not the mayor was required to disclose these gifts, since the developer did not personally do business with the city.

Local Government Practice April 17, 2009

The Effect of a State's Ethics Environment on Local Governments' Ethics Environments

One of the principal reasons I have focused my energies on local government ethics is that most people learn their government ethics at the local level. What they see people doing on councils and zoning boards, they do on state legislatures and commissions, and then again at the federal level.

But things go the other way, as well. Disdain for government ethics at the state level can affect the ethics environments of that state's local governments. This appears to be happening in Missouri.

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 16, 2009

Politicians on an Ethics Commission, EC Self-Regulation, and Other Interesting Issues That Arise from One Matter in Tulsa

According to an article in the Tulsa World, last week the city's Ethics Advisory Committee (EAC) ruled in favor of one of its members, Michael Slankard, with respect to an advisory opinion request by the city attorney. This situation raises several interesting issues.

Background Information

Ethics Codes & Reform April 15, 2009

Georgia Attempts to Require Local Ethics Enforcement

Last month, the Georgia Senate unanimously passed a bill requiring every local governing body (including school boards) to create an ethics panel to hear complaints regarding at least members of the local governing body and, in counties, elected constitutional officers.

Transparency & Disclosure April 15, 2009

Disclosure of the Names of Those Whose Benefit Creates a Conflict of Interest

The word is out: if local government officials don't want to file financial disclosure statements, all they have to do is resign en masse and whoever wrote the ethics code will not only rewrite it, but will say all sorts of warm, wonderful things about them.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play April 14, 2009

Good People Arguing for Pay-to-Play in a Charities Context

Broward County (FL), home of Ft. Lauderdale, is working on ethics reform, something Ft. Lauderdale itself did in 2007. Today, according to a piece on the Sun-Sentinel Broward Politics website, a county commissioner will be introducing a bill to prevent county commissioners from soliciting contributions for third parties, whether charities or other candidates, from those doing business with the county.

April 13, 2009

Nevada Legislative Immunity Appeal: A Sigh of Relief Regarding Institutional Waiver, and a Legislator's Neverneverland

The Nevada legislative immunity appellate briefs have been filed, and they are worth reading for those interested in the intersection between government ethics enforcement and legislative immunity, an intersection where, in the last year, there have been a few collisions harmful to the cause of government ethics. Although this case involves a state legislator, it is in some ways applicable to local government legislators.

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