City Ethics | Breaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"

April 20, 2012

Grand Jury Report on Manipulation of the Suffolk County (NY) Ethics Commission

For the second time in a year, a local ethics commission has been the subject of a grand jury report. The first was San Francisco's (see my blog post). There, it was a civil grand jury and the focus was on the commission. Here and now, it is a criminal grand jury, and the focus is on the county executive and other officials, as well as ethics commission members. The county is Suffolk, on Long Island, a suburban county of 1.5 million people.

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 19, 2012

Outsourcing Local Ethics Administration to the State EC

Update: December 20, 2012 (see below)

Conflicts of Interest April 19, 2012

Explaining the Business Aspects of a Conflict Situation

Here's an interesting conflict situation out of Forsyth County, Georgia. According to an article in the Forsyth News, a county commissioner owns a company that buys county water and sells it to county residents who used to have wells. The company owns the infrastructure that supplies water to four subdivisions in the county. It is one of several companies that do this. The companies are charged the flat commercial water rate, rather than residential rates that increase with use.

April 18, 2012

Kansas City (MO) Takes a Big Step Toward Ethics Reform

According to the blog of Kansas City, MO's mayor, Sly James, the KC Commission on Ethics Reform will be holding a public hearing tomorrow on its draft ethics code.

Resources & Learning April 18, 2012

Spring Reading: Corrupt Cities

Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention, a book by Robert Klitgaard, Ronald Maclean-Abaroa, and H. Lindsey Parris (Institute for Contemporary Studies, 2000), is an excellent study and analysis of municipal anti-corruption efforts primarily outside of the United States. Much of what the authors recommend is of use in the U.S., as well.

Transparency & Disclosure April 17, 2012

Electronic Communications as Government Property

There has been a controversy (which I missed when it originally arose a few months ago) regarding what Mitt Romney and his aides did with their government computer hard drives when Romney left office as governor of Massachusetts.

Ethics Commissions & Administration April 16, 2012

Selecting Ethics Commission Members in a Poor Ethics Environment

Across the nation, there have been numerous occasions when local government officials oppose disclosure requirements, sometimes even the most minimal ones (for example, the name of an elected official’s employer). Arguments are made about privacy, identity theft, and overweening government. There is talk about rights, but never about obligations.

But the bottom-line argument is that if you require financial disclosure, no one will volunteer for local boards and commissions. This is stated as an immutable fact, although without evidence.

April 14, 2012

New Wayne County, MI Ethics Code Falls Short

On April 5, the county commission in Wayne County, MI (which includes Detroit) passed a new ethics ordinance (attached; see below), following multiple scandals. It contains many good provisions, but it does not create a government ethics program.

Local Government Practice April 13, 2012

Chief Legal Officers, Local Government Attorneys, and Ethics Officers

The Schumpeter column in this week's Economist talks about the corporate chief legal officer (CLO), who due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's requirements has become a major figure at the top of every big corporation. Much as the city or county attorney is a major figure at the top of every local government.

Conflicts of Interest April 13, 2012

A De Minimis Conflict in a De Maximis Situation

Here's an interesting conflict question. According to an article in the Tewksbury Patch this week, a special town meeting in Tewksbury, MA will soon vote on whether to go to referendum on the question of replacing the town meeting with a council.

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