City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest September 9, 2013

The Perils of Prohibiting Officials from Having Conflicts of Interest

One of the most frequent mistakes in the drafting of a government ethics code is prohibiting officials from having conflicts of interest. There is nothing wrong with an official having a conflict of interest. There is only something wrong with an official creating a conflict or failing to deal responsibly with a pre-existing conflict. As can be seen in Massachusetts, where such a prohibition has made big waves, the prohibition of having a conflict can cause serious problems.

September 7, 2013

A New D.C. Ethics Reform Bill

On April 17, the District of Columbia ethics board filed recommendations for ethics reform with the council (see my blog post on the recommendations). Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie has introduced a bill that includes some of these recommendations (attached; see below).

Enforcement & Complaints September 5, 2013

Dealing Responsibly with an Ethics Violation

Here's a what-not-to-do scenario of a sort that is too rarely included in ethics training. And yet it's one that could save a lot of officials, as well as ethics programs, a great deal of trouble, and help maintain public trust in local government.

Conflicts of Interest September 5, 2013

Summer Reading: Government Lawyers and Confidentiality

I did a huge amount of reading this summer for a paper I wrote for the journal Public Integrity (and otherwise). The first piece of reading I'm going to talk about is one of the otherwise.

Campaign Finance & Pay-to-Play September 4, 2013

Local Public Financing Programs Make Elections More Local

When people write about public campaign financing programs, they tend to focus on participation percentages and the size of the campaign contributions.

Conflicts of Interest September 4, 2013

Subcontractors and Indirect Benefits

Ethics provisions dealing with contracts often ignore subcontractors. This leaves open a big loophole, through which an official can get a big piece of a contract by hiding behind a contractor. This is part of a larger problem: ignoring indirect benefits.

Ethics Commissions & Administration September 3, 2013

An Advisory Opinion Concerning Constituent Services

On August 29, the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability issued an advisory opinion on the important and far too overlooked topic of constituent services (attached; see below). The issuing of advisory opinions that cover more than a very specific set of facts, what I call "general advisory opinions," is itself very valuable (see the section of my book Local Government Ethics Programs on general advisory opinions).

Ethics Codes & Reform August 30, 2013

Should the Josephson Institute's Principles of Public Ethics Be Enforceable Rules?

Should the Josephson Institute's Five Principles of Public Ethics be enforceable by a local government? And if not, why not?

Ethics Codes & Reform August 29, 2013

The New ASPA Code of Ethics

It came to my attention in an interview with Professor James Svara, for a paper I am writing for the journal Public Integrity, that in March 2013, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) made substantial — sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful, sometimes baffling — changes to its Code of Ethics (the revised code is attached; see below). This post will look at the changes that involve conflicts of interest.

Personal Interests

Ethics Commissions & Administration August 28, 2013

Ethics Advice, Power, and Ideology

Within Election Law Center blogger Christian Adams' recent ad hominem attack on me is an idea that is worth discussing. He said that, in requiring candidate committees to come to me for permission (what is commonly referred to as "ethics advice") when I was the administrator of a public campaign financing program, I was displaying a "joy" and "love" of power. Does this advisory relationship actually involve power?

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