Here's an election story with a conflict of interest angle. In Crescent City, California (pop. 7,500) on the beautiful California coast up near the Oregon border, the little city's former finance director is running for clerk.

According to an article in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune this week, the lame-duck mayor of Northfield, MN, home of Carleton and St.

The big news this week on the government ethics front is Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens' conviction on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms, regarding home renovations paid for by an oil executive.

Long Island (NY) Railroad (LIRR) retirees are many times more likely to be on disability than other rail workers, and the New York Times has been focusing on this story (click here for a page of articles and information).

"As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it? --William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, 1871

see update below

Another of Boss Tweed's famous quotations is, "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." His and other city bosses' way of controlling politics through parties led to the reform movements of the progressive era, first to the idea of a strong mayor, and then to the idea of nonpartisan town managers.

It's not quite civil disobedience by county officials, but Michigan's senate majority leader has asked the Attorney General to block what those officials are doing, according to an article yesterday on mlive.com (Booth Newspapers).

I've already written about the conflict of interest problems involved in the New York City term limits dispute.