City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

Conflicts of Interest September 12, 2012

When a Job Is Given to an EC Member

Now that I am no longer administrator of the New Haven Democracy Fund, a public campaign financing program, I can once again write about ethics issues that arise in New Haven. An interesting issue arose when, according to an article in Monday's New Haven Register, a member of the city's ethics board took a part-time job with the city. The questions this raises are (1) does this create a conflict? and (2) how (and by whom) should the situation be dealt with?

September 11, 2012

Phoenix Mayor Forms Ethics Task Force

According to an official press release, yesterday the mayor of Phoenix announced the formation of an Ethics Review Ad Hoc Task Force, with eleven members appointed by the mayor, to be chaired by former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and staffed by the city’s law and human resources departments.

Resources & Learning September 11, 2012

Summer Reading: What Money Can't Buy I

Harvard professor Michael Sandel's new book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar Straus, 2012) has a lot to say about the effect of commercial, market values on American culture, including on American government. Sandel's book focuses on "the expansion of markets, and of market values, into spheres of life where they don't belong. … We need to ask whether there are some things money should not buy." This question leads us to the core of government ethics.

Enforcement & Complaints September 10, 2012

The Real-Life Results of a Lack of Independence and Transparency in an Ethics Program

Last week, I wrote blog posts about how Chicago's ethics program needs more independence and more transparency than the Ethics Reform Task Force recommended.

September 7, 2012

Chicago Task Force Second Report V — Some Bad Ideas and Missed Chances

The worst recommendation in the Chicago ethics task force's second report (attached; see below) involves the role it wants the corporation counsel to play in the city's ethics program: prosecuting attorney.

I feel strongly that a corporation counsel's office should play no role in an ethics program. See the section of my book Local Government Ethics Programs on the involvement of local government attorneys in an ethics program.

September 7, 2012

Chicago Task Force Second Report IV — Confidentiality and False Information

Although the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force, in its first report, came out strongly in favor of more transparency in government, in its second report it came out strongly in favor of what it calls "confidentiality" in the ethics program. I call it what the public calls it: "secrecy."

Ethics Codes & Reform September 6, 2012

Why Local Party Leaders Should Be Part of a Local Ethics Program

A front-page article in yesterday's New York Times provides an excellent portrait of a government official who, although doing much good work, made it all about himself and those with whom he has special relationships.

Ethics Commissions & Administration September 6, 2012

Chicago Task Force Second Report III — Ethics Program Independence

Ethics program independence is, as far as I'm concerned, the single most important issue in ethics reform. Nothing gains the public's trust as much as an ethics program that is independent from the officials over whom it has jurisdiction.

Ethics Commissions & Administration September 5, 2012

A Miscellany

Yet Another Mayoral Charity Mess, This Time in Toronto

September 5, 2012

Chicago Task Force Second Report II — The Roles of the Ethics Board and the IGs

The principal topic of the second report of the Chicago Ethics Reform Task Force is the relationship between the Board of Ethics and the city's dual inspectors general, one for the executive branch (the IG) and a new one for the legislative branch (the LIG). Currently, there are communication and jurisdictional problems among these three agencies.

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