City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

August 13, 2008

Local Governments and Guantanamo Bay

Tomorrow, I am going to Guantanamo Bay. To get there, I have to drive through Guantanamo Bay.

How could that be? For the same reason that you might be sitting in Guantanamo Bay as you read this: because innocent people are being held, and mistreated, in long-term detention all over the United States, including in local government facilities (see map).

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Conflicts of Interest August 12, 2008

Is Benefitting Constituents Representing Them or Benefitting Oneself?

Ted Stevens has been indicted for falsely reporting over $250,000 in services he received from an oil company that renovated his home. He denies the charges.

Whether or not he's guilty of these charges, he is certainly guilty of a conflict of interest that plagues politicians at all levels of government: identifying himself with his constituency, and abusing his power to benefit his constituents, to his own benefit, at the expense of others whose representatives lack that power.

Transparency & Disclosure August 11, 2008

The Benefits of Interactive Local Government Information on the Internet

In a recent blog entry, I looked at how a couple of Connecticut towns are using the Internet to get citizen feedback and provide transparency. But some cities have gone much further, according to a syndicated column by Neal Peirce.

Ethics Codes & Reform August 8, 2008

The Perception of Improper Ethics Reform

The passing of new ethics code provisions in Anoka, MN (pop. 18,000) provides a fine case study of how to try to pass off useless ethics code reform as something valuable.

Ethics Codes & Reform August 7, 2008

Truth-Telling

A lie to protect oneself or to mislead others in one's own interest is as bald a conflict of interest as there can be. But since it usually involves no money, and since it is hard to prove the difference between a lie and a mistake in knowledge or interpretation (which is why the word "lie" is never used; "misrepresentation" and "false statement" are preferred terms), a lie is almost never a violation of a government ethics code. In addition, most people don't seem to think lying is such a bad thing. After all, we all do it, and we all know that politicians do little else.

Enforcement & Complaints August 6, 2008

Settlement Agreements

Most local government ethics codes do not explicitly deal with settlement agreements, but most state ethics codes do. I left settlement agreements out of my first draft of the City Ethics Model Code, but I have just added a provision, Section 213(5). The language is based on that of several state ethics codes and rules, especially those of Ohio and Georgia.

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August 5, 2008

State Party Chair Tells Local Officials That Anything Goes

There are many ways for elected officials to undermine democracy, but trying to scare people away from registering to vote is among the most insidious.

July 29, 2008

The Ethics Show Must Go On

Money may be the root of all evil, but it's a nice way to spice up ethics training.

Take the Ethics Rock! program, designed for lawyers who have lots of money to spend on CLE credits. Ethics case studies are done to the tunes of such songs as "American Pie" and "A Day in the Life." The songs are performed by a professional singer-guitarist, on tour.

Local government ethics case study songs come to mind easily, with such numbers as "Chicago," "New York, New York," and Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee."

July 26, 2008

Wanted: Old Toothless Pals Only - The New Office of Congressional Ethics

The actual and perceived independence of an ethics commission is one of the most important aspects of a government ethics program.

The U.S. House of Representatives finally decided to be overseen by an independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Hallelujah!

Conflicts of Interest July 25, 2008

The Spitzer Report and the Need for Clearer Boundaries Between Public and Private Work

The New York State Commission on Public Integrity released a report yesterday on the allegations relating to the Spitzer Administration's attempts to gather and make public the travel abuses of the Senate Majority Leader, in order to tarnish his reputation. See the New York Times article.

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