It's tough to get rid of officials guilty of serious misconduct. Recall and impeachment are long, grueling processes, which are of no value late in an official's term. Rarely is removal from office for an ethics violation an option, and ethics investigations and hearings, including appeal to a court, can take a long time, as well. It's easier when an official has been found guilty of a crime, but there are all sorts of ways to delay a criminal case. In the meantime, a city or county administration can come to a standstill, as is the case in Detroit.

What do sinkholes and poor drainage in a newly-built highway have to do with government ethics? Often, they are the result of incompetence. But they are also often the result of unethical conduct.

That seems to be the cause in Connecticut's big highway mess that has slowly been unveiled over the last two-and-a-half years, most recently in an article in the September issue of Connecticut magazine. The mess involves improvements to a 3-mile strip of Interstate 84, a $60-million  project whose cost has been increased by about $50 million, so far.

Local election officials have been put in a bind since the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed by Congress in 2002. Federal and state requirements limit their control over voting processes, and there have been many problems with the companies that provide voting equipment and services. Besides the pains of dealing with these companies from a position of weakness, the biggest problem is accountability and confidence in the voting process.