When does an interest become an interest? When an official starts thinking about entering into a contract? When she starts negotiating the contract? When she agrees on the details? When she actually signs the contract? Or is this not really the question to focus on? According to an article in the A…

Sometimes a conflict of interest can help a community save money. An official with a relationship to a company might be able to negotiate a better deal for his town, as long as his company gets the business and the credit. But is this legitimate, and even if it is, how should it be handled? Accordi…

Sometimes it's very difficult for a government official to deal with a conflict of interest involving a member of his or her immediate family. The common approach to ethics is to assume that an official will favor a family member, but sometimes an ethics law can take an official out of the uncomfor…

A difficult aspect of government ethics is the percentage of a company that must be owned by a government official in order for there to be a conflict of interest. The figure chosen for ethics codes is usually 5%. The City Ethics Model Code uses the following language in defining "outside employer …