Ethics Commissions & Administration February 12, 2013

EC Member Withdrawal in a Case Involving an Appointing Authority

Note: When I originally wrote this blog post, I erroneously assumed that the ethics commission member whose conflict situation I discuss was the only one selected by the assembly speaker. I since learned that three of the members were selected by the assembly speaker. I would argue, therefore, that these three members are in the same situation (except for the personal opinion expressed about someone who would presumably be involved in the matter). With a fourteen-member commission, the withdrawal of three members from a matter would not hamper consideration of it.
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February 8, 2013

D.C. Ethics Board's Opinion Needs a Rewrite

The first opinion of the District of Columbia's Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (a searchable copy is attached; see below) raises some interesting questions relating to enforcing unenforceable ethics provisions, vagueness, and publishing evidence and an opinion about a case that is being dismissed before an investigation has been conducted. The opinion also shows that the new ethics board has a long way to go up the learning curve of government ethics.
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January 30, 2013

Will New Jersey Improve Its Local Government Ethics Program?


New Jersey has one of the oddest approaches to local government ethics. Like several states,  including Massachusetts, California, and Florida, a state ethics program has jurisdiction over local officials. But unlike other states, the state ethics program is not run by the state ethics commission. It is run by the Department of Community Affairs.
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Conflicts of Interest January 30, 2013

Fitting Conflicts to Agencies and Departments

One of the rarely questioned truisms of local government ethics is, "One size does not fit all." Usually this means that one ethics code is not right for every city or county, that every jurisdiction has its own issues and problems.

In some ways this is true. New York City's huge ethics program is hardly appropriate to a small town, because there is such a large difference in available resources. But there is no difference when it comes to ethics rules or the need for training or independent advice and enforcement.
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January 24, 2013

Citizens to Redistrict Austin Council

Update: January 30, 2013 (see below)

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post about the conflict at the heart of the local redistricting process, where the members of a legislative body are deeply involved in decisions that will determine whether or not they, and their party or faction, are re-elected. This conflict shares some similarities with the involvement of officials in selecting ethics commission members and enforcing government ethics laws.
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