City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 25, 2013

Voting For or Against Is Not the Question; Independence Is the Answer

Some people incorrectly believe that a conflict of interest requires an official not to vote in such a way as to benefit himself. That is, if the official might benefit from a vote, it's okay for him to vote against it, because that shows that the official is not seeking to benefit himself.

Ethics Commissions & Administration June 24, 2013

Attacking Instead of Asking

According to an article in the Denver Post last week,these are the words of Colorado's Secretary of State after the state ethics commission found him in violation of an ethics provision, on account of using state funds to attend the Republican national convention last year:

"As we said from the start, I've had grave concerns about this tribunal's ability to be fair and objective.

Conflicts of Interest June 22, 2013

A Council Member Who's a Realtor, and Matters Affecting Property Values

Does a council member who is a realtor have a conflict with respect to any council matter that affects real estate, including a matter that affects property values ? That appears to be the view of NJ Superior Court Judge Grasso in a decision this week, according to an article in Thursday's Asbury Park Press.

Ethics Codes & Reform June 21, 2013

List of Best Practices

The greatly improved and expanded second edition of City Ethics' resource book Local Government Ethics Programs will be up on the City Ethics website this weekend. See the teaser: a new list of Best Practices that is an appendix to the second edition.

Resources & Learning June 20, 2013

Best Practices from the Book "Local Government Ethics Programs"

The second edition of the resource book Local Government Ethics Programs will be put up on the City Ethics website in the next few days. It is updated, improved, and expanded. One of the new features is an extensive list of Best Practices. Here is the list:

Basic Matters
1. Speaking not in terms of personal integrity, but rather in terms of the responsible, professional handling of conflict situations.

May 20, 2013

Not Engaging in Our Fathers' Misconduct

In this week's New York Times Sunday Review section, Stephanie Coontz wrote about "social nostalgia," that is, nostalgia about the way society used to be. She cites a study of men with difficult childhoods, done by the psychologist John Snarey, which I assume is discussed in Snarey's 1993 book, How Fathers Care for the Next Generation (Harvard Univ. Press).

Conflicts of Interest May 7, 2013

Constituent Services and Preferential Treatment Provisions

On April 30, the D.C. ethics board reached a settlement with a council member (attached; see below), whereby he was admonished for having "used the prestige of his office or his public position for the private gain" of a company by influencing health department personnel to leave the site of the business without issuing a notice of closure, allowing the business to continue to operate for several more hours.

May 1, 2013

D.C. Ethics Board's Flawed Recommendations for Reform

In January, I wrote a blog post about the District of Columbia ethics board's first public forum seeking recommendations for ethics reform. On April 17, the ethics board published a report that makes recommendations for improvements to the city's ethics program (attached; see below).

April 25, 2013

The First Government Ethics App Is Here!

It's here at last: the first government ethics app (at least that I know of).

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 23, 2013

How Not to Run an Oversight Commission

According to a column in today's New York Times and a visit to the New York City Business Integrity Commission's (BIC) website, the BIC provides three easy lessons in how not to run an oversight commission. The BIC has jurisdiction over the private waste carting industry, businesses operating in the city's public wholesale markets, and the shipboard gambling industry.

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