February 14, 2008

Congress Makes a Pitch for Poor Ethics

Congressmen and -women sometimes act as if they didn't know the first thing about government ethics. Even when their actions are more in the public eye than usual, many of them unnecessarily, and selfishly, do the wrong thing. This week, Congress seems to be all about Roger Clemens, who is definitely of more interest than health care, the economy, or Iraq. And what did 25 of the 40 members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform do before providing oversight over Roger Clemens?
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February 8, 2008

Pollsters and Transparency

An op-ed piece by Pollster.com editor Mark Blumenthal, in yesterday’s New York Times, brought up an interesting point about the transparency of political polls. I would like to take his piece a step further. Blumenthal feels that political polls provide too little background information, such as whether live or recorded interviewers were used, or the demographic makeup of their sample.
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Ethics Codes & Reform February 7, 2008

Ethics Code Waiver Provisions and Unforeseen Consequences

An Alaskan state representative needs a new kidney. The new state ethics law does not allow gifts over $250. It has a compassionate gift exemption, but it only allows compassionate gifts with a fair market value less than $250. This is one of many unforeseen consequences that comes from ethics codes (or any legislation, for that matter). So the state legislature is rushing through a bill to change the exemption to a reporting requirement.
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Conflicts of Interest February 6, 2008

Dealing Openly and Responsibly with a Conflict of Interest

You hear it again and again: “I didn’t know. I wasn’t told.” It’s the ultimate defense. Rarely do you hear, “I didn’t know, but I should have. It’s my responsibility to know and make sure I’m told things like this. I will act as if I knew, because I should have known.” There’s nothing wrong with a conflict of interest. When you learn about one, you discuss it openly and deal with it responsibly.
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Ethics Codes & Reform February 5, 2008

Muncie, Indiana, and the Applicability of the ASPA Code of Ethics for a City Council:

According to an article in the Muncie (IN) Star Press, the Muncie City Council voted 5-4 not to adopt the American Society for Public Administration’s ethics code, something that hundreds of citizens at the meeting favored. Apparently, the one non-Council member who spoke out against voting for the code was the City Attorney, who “worried the proposed code of ethics was geared more toward administrators than a legislative body, and that it would create separation-of-power issues.”
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Conflicts of Interest February 4, 2008

A Controversial Indianapolis Board Appointment: Perception and the Dilemma Between Competence and Conflicts of Interest

The new mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, who ran as a candidate who would bring ethics to city government, is already embroiled in a controversial ethics issue. He has appointed Robert T. Grand as chair of the Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which manages the city’s convention center and sports stadiums, including that of the Indiana Pacers, a basketball team owned by the Simon family. There is a good chance that the Pacers' lease will be renegotiated next year. Grand, an attorney, represents the Simon family’s principal business, the Simon Property Group.
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February 1, 2008

New National Government Ethics Survey Shows That Too Few Local Governments Have Strong Ethical Cultures

The Ethics Resource Center’s first National Government Ethics Survey has just come out, and is available free at the ERC’s website, although it requires registration. It is the result of a random 2007 telephone poll of government employees, and is part of a series of polls looking at ethics in different sorts of workplaces. City Ethics' Founder, Carla Miller, was on the Advisory Group for this survey. Here are some of the Survey’s findings relating to local governments.
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Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play January 31, 2008

Supreme Court Justices and Their Campaign Contributions: Can Justice Be Purchased?

Articles have been written putting into question the study on which the following blog entry was based. The Tulane Law Review and Law School have apologized, but the authors, although admitting to their errors, stand by their conclusions and plan to publish a revised version of their law review article, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
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