City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

March 19, 2007

Blaming Those Who Call for Ethical Conduct - Quote of the Day

Connecticut House Speaker James A. Amann has been receiving a great deal of criticism for asking lobbyists for contributions to the charity he works for as a paid fundraiser (including criticism from me: see my blog entry on fundraising problems). He has insisted that his solicitations are legal, a…

Ethics Codes & Reform March 19, 2007

Logical Fallacies II - The Ad Populum Defense

Another logical fallacy commonly used by municipal officials is the opposite of the Ad Hominem Attack: the Ad Populum ('[appeal] to the people') Defense. The typical Ad Populum Defense is 'Everybody does it.' There are two simple responses to this. One is, 'How do you know what everybody else does?…

Conflicts of Interest March 15, 2007

Double-Dipping: Two Ways It Works ... and Hurts the Public

Double-dipping occurs when someone holds two government jobs, usually at two different levels of government. This is not legal in many states, and for a good reason. It sets up many possible conflicts of interest, not the least of which is that when you're doing one job, you're not doing the other.…

Local Government Practice March 15, 2007

How Swift Growth Can Undermine Local Government Ethics

The highest median income in 2005, and the fastest-growing county in the United States between 2000 and 2005. How does that translate in terms of local government ethics? Sadly, not very well. The county is Loudoun in Virginia (principal town: Leesburg), not far from Washington, D.C. Although the i…

March 13, 2007

North Carolina Enters the Dark Ages

North Carolina's 2006 state ethics reform turned out the lights, according to an article in yesterday's Charlotte Observer. The new system provides that there will be no public hearings before the new state ethics commission unless the accused asks for one. In many cases, when a case is dismissed o…

Conflicts of Interest March 13, 2007

Charitable Fundraising as an End Run Around Ethics Laws

Lobbyists, lawmakers, and charitable fundraising form a triangle that is both virtuous and harmful. Community leaders like to be identified with charitable groups, and charitable groups like to be identified with community leaders. It's a natural combination. But what is not natural, or even easy t…

Conflicts of Interest March 10, 2007

Municipal Attorneys' Conflicting Obligations: A Case Study

Here's a difficult case involving a board of education's attorney. The board of education in a wealthy, medium-sized Connecticut town is represented by a large law firm that represents 80 boards of education across the state (half the state's total). That same firm is representing a developer that …

March 9, 2007

Some Weak Defenses of Conflicts in the News This Week

Understatement: After one county district attorney recused himself from prosecuting the man who hired him for his job, the neighboring county district attorney accepted the case, despite the fact that he leased office space and had accepted a thousand-dollar campaign contribution from the suspect's…

Ethics Codes & Reform March 8, 2007

Logical Fallacies I: The Ad Hominem Attack

It is difficult to be an ethical politician or administrator, or even a citizen, without a basic understanding of logic. It is also difficult to appreciate others' unethical conduct without a basic understanding of logic. By logic I do not mean the opposite of irrationality, but rather critical thi…

Conflicts of Interest March 6, 2007

Conflicting Public Service Obligations

My blog entries must often seem like attacks on business interests. One reason is that conflicts are usually about personal financial interests conflicting with a government official's obligations to the public, and our democratic values require that the official's fiduciary obligations take preced…

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