City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Enforcement & Complaints November 19, 2013

Why Ethics Proceedings Should Not Be Delayed Due to a Criminal Proceeding

A Hartford Courant editorial on Friday asked a question that is not asked enough, Why delay an ethics investigation until a criminal investigation is complete? Another such question that is not asked enough is, Why delay an ethics proceeding until a criminal proceeding is complete? The editorial ta…

Conflicts of Interest November 18, 2013

The Sale of Special Access to Confidential Information

A recent post on Philadelphia's Parents United for Public Education blog raises an issue that pulls together FOI and confidential information issues. Entitled "Is 'right to know' the new 'pay to play'?", the post is about Parents United's attempt to make public a report that contains a list of Phil…

Ethics Commissions & Administration November 18, 2013

The Extent of Disclosure Necessary to Obtain Ethics Advice

According to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Friday, the state ethics board refused to give ethics advice to the Port of South Louisiana regarding whether the hiring of a parish (that is, city) council member would be appropriate, considering that the Port and council work closely t…

Resources & Learning November 15, 2013

Is the Principal Cause of Ethical Misconduct Within Us?

I'm reading an excellent novel right now: Quiet Chaos by Sandro Veronesi, translated from the Italian by Michael F. Moore (Ecco, 2004, 2011). The narrator has just learned that his boss stole money from the company they worked for. He was very close to his boss, and saw nothing in him that would l…

Conflicts of Interest November 14, 2013

"Unfair Competitive Advantage" in Procurement Matters

A November audit by Tennessee's Comptroller applies the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to a state procurement situation, since there are no relevant state rules. The particular provision involves "unfair competitive advantage." This is a useful concept to keep in mind with respect to local pr…

Conflicts of Interest November 13, 2013

A Judicial Decision Involving the Language of "Interest" and Non-Financial Benefits

As I keep saying, conflicts are about "benefits" and "relationships" rather than about "interests," and this should be reflected in the language of ethics codes. The clash of these two kinds of language is the subject of a recent Virginia Supreme Court decision, Newberry Station Homeowners Assoc. e…

November 12, 2013

"Frivolity" in Kenosha, WI

"Frivolous" is a word that, I believe, has no place in a government ethics program. A look at an attempt to add it to Kenosha's ethics program shows how, well, frivolous the word is. According to an article in this Sunday's Kenosha (WI) News, a proposed ethics code amendment before the Kenosha coun…

November 12, 2013

Seattle Rejects Public Financing and Embraces District Council Elections

In my estimation, Seattle voters made a big mistake last week. They voted for two related changes to their government. One was a public campaign financing program for citywide council elections. The other was a change from citywide council elections to district council elections, which would leave …

Local Government Practice November 11, 2013

Formerly Known as Lobbyists . . .

According to a press release from the American League of Lobbyists, the association that lobbies for lobbyists, the membership has voted to change its name and "brand" to the Association of Government Relations Professionals. It's good that lobbyists do not run election campaigns, because their bra…

Ethics Commissions & Administration November 11, 2013

A New Sort of Regional EC in Utah

In early 2009, I started out a blog post, "Type 'ethics' into the search line at utah.gov, and all that comes up is Archery Ethics Course Online." That is no longer true. In fact, the state legislature not only has an ethics commission, it even passed a local ethics commission act. And in response …

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